The Minister of Education, Science and Innovation, Fernando Alexandre, reaffirmed today that the defrosting of tuition fees does not remove students from access to higher education, because the government has increased social support for students.
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09/10/2026
by
Lusa
O minister of Education, Science and Innovation, Fernando Alexandre, today reaffirmed that the defrosting of tuition fees does not remove students from access to higher education, because the government has increased social support for students.
“What counts is social action. If this effect existed, [from the distance of students from higher education], obviously, we would never make this movement”, he said.
Fernando Alexandre spoke to journalists on the margins of the inauguration of a new residence for students, built from scratch, and the requalification of three already existing at the Polytechnic University of Viseu.
“What is essential is to ensure that – and that is what the new model of social action does – is to take into account the income that is available for each student to study and the cost of studying and the cost of studying is the bribe,” he added.
From the school year 2027/2028, the government will defrost the value of tuition fees, which have not changed since 2020 and will be updated to the inflation rate, according to the proposed State Budget for 2027 (OE2027).
The minister considered that “when the bribe increases, the scholarship increases and, therefore, this effect is neutral for the student, so no one will be excluded from higher education” because there was the thawing of tuition fees.
At the moment, he considered, the fact that there is no thawing “genera inequity”.
“ Getting into higher education brings benefits to people, and that is what makes people continue to study and so it makes no sense that those who cannot go to higher education, which is what happens today, are paying for other students' studies. It doesn't make sense. It’s not fair,” he said.
Fernando Alexandre reinforced that what the government “has to guarantee is that no one is excluded for economic reasons, the new model of social action guarantees this” and, this thawing “is an update to the inflation rate, that is, it is a very low value”.
The government had already proposed the defrosting of tuition fees last year under the OE2026, but the intention was halted by the opposition that approved, in the discussion in specialty, a proposal from the PS that kept the maximum value of EUR 697.