This research explores the impact of the financial autonomy of Vietnamese universities and credit-based tuition fees on the everyday realities of financially marginalized undergraduate students not classified as poor. Focusing on a detailed examination of rising tuition fees per credit, without institutional support, the research uses eighteen in-depth interviews with six undergraduates from a public university in Vietnam to examine how they cope with the situation using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). The scarcity theory is employed as a sensitizing lens to shed light on the potential unintended consequences of policy changes aimed at improving efficiency, which can exacerbate inequalities of class, reduce students’ cognitive bandwidth, and increase the conflict between their work and study. The role strain theory is also used as a sensitizing lens to highlight how issues of class strain may arise in the context of policy changes aimed at improving efficiency. The results show that a work–fail–repay cycle occurs in which students’ high workloads to pay tuition fees erode their academic results and create yet another financial burden due to repeat course credits. The analysis shows that education financing policies have differential impacts on majority ethnic, low-income learners who are institutionally invisible. The research adds to the discussion of the interplay between autonomy-funded models, class, equity, and students’ lived experiences. Implications call for a more responsive approach to supporting students in cash-flow poverty (i.e., liquidity shortages despite non‑poor status) and an understanding of the unique challenges that such students who are not eligible for support might be facing.
Hau Ho (Fri,) studied this question.