Decision on Exemptions for Educational Services Provided by the University under the New Legal Regulation

Higher education in Poland has been constantly reformed for over a decade so that Polish universities can effectively compete with foreign counterparts, and their graduates are attractive to employers. The possibility of learning may depend on paying the appropriate fees. This can put a heavy burden on the student’s budget, but the student may apply for an exemption from these fees under the conditions set by the university. Existing regulations were imprecise in this respect, which is why the adoption of the new law gave the opportunity to solve many related problems. One of the main issues requiring legislative intervention was to clarify what fees universities can charge their students and in what form they should decide to exclude these fees. This goal has only been partially achieved. The catalogue of fees has been defined, but it has not been determined whether the exemption from the obligation to pay them should be made by an administrative decision or any other act of the university body. The analysis of the new provisions leads to the conclusion that the principle should be the adoption of an administrative decision granting exemption from fees for educational services, whereas in the case of other fees referred to in art. 79 § 2 p.w.sz.n., the appropriate decision should be in a different form.