Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu (28 years old, Nam Dinh) - a leather shoe worker working under a small child's allowance, earning nearly 7 million VND/month. From June 2025, she had to set aside more than 5 million VND to register for her children's summer school.
"The oldest student earns 2 million VND/month for both studying knowledge and boarding. The second child studies at a kindergarten, both the tuition and food expenses are 1.5 million VND/month. The youngest child had to be taken care of by his grandparents because he was too young, but I still sent him 2 million VND to look after him every month, said Ms. Thu.
The female worker said that with the addition of clothes, electricity and water, an income of 7 million VND/month spent just finished, there was no extra. Other expenses such as milk and diapers for the children and the whole family's living expenses must depend on her husband's salary.
Comparing the tuition fee for the main course in the school year, Ms. Thu said that it was only 1/3 of the summer tuition fee. Therefore, every time their children have a summer vacation, the female worker is extremely worried because this amount of money generated affects their lives.
School tuition is only 150,000 VND/month, during summer vacation, teachers still take care of children but the cost is more than 700,000 VND/month. The lunch fee also increased from 19,000 VND to 23,000 VND" - Ms. Thu said.
The more she thought about the children's tuition fees, the more she felt her heart and anxiety. Because July and August are usually months with less work, income may decrease, and at the same time, September needs a large sum of money for her so that her children can open the new school year.
Ms. Thu hopes that the company's monthly support for raising young children will increase. At the same time, the female worker also hopes that the State will pay attention and create conditions for summer tuition fees for students so that parents can feel secure and reduce the financial burden.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Dung (30 years old, Hanoi) is also a day-trip worker, not having time to take care of her children. Every month, both school fees, care and meals at school cost her two months' salary.
In the city, there are few schools teaching during the summer vacation. The tuition fee for adults is 1.5 million VND, for children is 1.2 million VND. Meal fee is 25,000 VND/meal, air conditioners, water, toys are 50,000 VND/month. The extra hour's allowance for evening care is 15,000 VND/ thing, a total of about 5 million VND/month while my income is only 7.5 million VND" - Ms. Dung shared.
The burden of tuition fees is even heavier when the school announced that the summer school period will be extended to August 29 (nearly 3 months). To earn more income to cover living expenses, Ms. Dung has had to sell online every evening and Sunday even though she is quite tired.
According to Ms. Dung, the summer tuition fee should not exceed 3 times the tuition fee for the whole course, so that families who do not have much money like her can "breathe easier".
The female worker said that her child's main tuition fee is currently 250,000 VND/month, and if she adds it to her lunch break, she can still meet the demand well. With this tuition fee, Ms. Dung believes it is quite suitable to ensure the benefits for teachers when registering to teach students and look after children during the summer.
