Correspondents of “Chronicles of Turkmenistan” report that on 21 September, 2020 many Turkmen study-abroad students might face expulsion from their educational establishments for failure to pay tuition fees by the due date.
Turkmen nationals doing a course of study in some foreign higher educational establishments, which are included in the list of the Education Ministry, can pay tuition fees in local currency manats, which are subsequently converted using the official rate and transferred to their respective universities in US dollars.
However, a shortage of foreign currency in Turkmenistan results in delays when making wire transfers.
For those students whose parents reside in Turkmenistan’s provinces the problem is even greater.For instance, bank transfers from Dashoguz made as early as in August through the banks “Senagat”, “Daikhanbank”, “Turkmenbashi” and “Khalkbank” have not yet been received by the universities.
When asked by parents, bank employees say that because of the shortage of foreign currency, wire transfers are being sent as the currency becomes available.
According to sources of “Chronicles of Turkmenistan”, delays with money transfers are much less common in the capital. Incoming foreign currency is used primarily for the needs of Ashgabat banks, whereas regional offices are forced to work with the remainder.
A similar situation is being observed with money transfers via Western Union. Ashgabat residents are entitled to transfer $200 monthly after they provide required documents, including the parents’ income statement and residence registration and a certificate of enrolment. In the provinces, however, in Mary, as of today this amount can be transferred only every two months.
Recently only $192 has been handed out to the students despite the fact that we send $200. $8 is retained as a commission fee despite the fact that we have already paid a separate transfer fee in manats using the official rate, said a parent from the province who made a money transfer via WU.
As with other bans and restrictions introduced in Turkmenistan for various reasons money transfer limits cause corruption.
Money transfers can be made more frequently after paying a bribe of 1600-2000 manats ($457-$571 using the official rate or $68-$85 at the “black market” rate) to a bank employee.
As regards tuition payments, some Russian universities are more accommodating and do a favour to students by offering to pay at least 10% in cash in due time.
In this case an educational establishment is ready defer the full payment until the end of the year.However, the majority of Russian, Belarus and Ukrainian universities, which are aware of the systematic problems with wire transfers from Turkmenistan, are reluctant to make more concessions and request that tuition fees are paid on time.