February 3, 2026

Akahata ‘Morning breeze’ column

If you asked young people on the street, “What do you want from politics?” many would probably say, “Lower tuition fees.”

Tuition fees at private universities have continued to increase, with average first-year payments now exceeding 1.5 million yen.

Even at national universities, the standard annual tuition fee of 535,800 yen is not cheap. Furthermore, the Ministry of Education permits tuition hikes up to 120% of this standard amount. The University of Tokyo in 2024 decided to raise tuition by 20%, followed by four other national universities, including Saitama and Yamaguchi, in 2025.

Even more concerning is the ongoing discussion about “liberalizing tuition fees” at national universities. Last year, the Central Council for Education, an advisory panel to the Minister of Education, discussed enabling each university to add freely to the standard tuition rate to help maintain university functions in the face of a declining population of 18-year-olds.

National universities are expected to keep tuition fees low in order to ensure equal educational opportunities for all.

The standard tuition rate has served as a restraint against unlimited increases. If this restraint is removed, both national and private universities could proceed with endless tuition hikes. This would deprive many students of their right to learn and would close the door on Japan’s future.