Tuition Fees and the Finances of Self-Financed Programmes: UGC Funding, Non-Local Tuition, and Self-Financed Surpluses

The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)’s educational funding is jointly supported by a recurrent block grant from the University Grants Committee (UGC) — approximately HK$6.434 billion in 2023/24, accounting for 48.9% of total income — and tuition fee revenue of HK$2.928 billion, or 22.3%. From the 2025/26 academic year, annual tuition for local undergraduates rose to HK$44,500, while non-local undergraduate tuition jumped 22.8% to HK$178,000, a roughly fourfold gap. Self-financed taught postgraduate programmes and the School of Continuing and Professional Studies must pay the University an indirect-cost levy of 18% to 36% and are subject to a strict regulatory red line that prohibits cross-subsidisation of UGC-funded resources.

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# I. How Does the UGC Block Grant Work?

The University Grants Committee (UGC) allocates recurrent block grants to the eight funded universities on a triennial (three-year planning cycle) basis. The funding formula is built around agreed student number targets, levels of study, and academic disciplines, covering three broad expenditure categories: teaching, research, and professional activity. According to the UGC FAQ^※, teaching accounts for roughly 78% of the block grant, research about 20%, and professional activities approximately 2%. Universities enjoy autonomy in deploying the approved total and are not required to seek line-by-line approvals.

The current triennium runs from 2025 to 2028. As stated in a government budget reply (February 2025)^※, the approved recurrent funding for the entire sector over the 2025–28 triennium is HK$68.1 billion, which falls short of the aggregate institutional need of HK$70.9 billion by about HK$2.8 billion (roughly 4%, achieved through a cumulative 2% annual reduction). In addition, the government has asked the eight universities to collectively return HK$4 billion from their General and Development Reserve Funds (GDRF) in the 2025/26 financial year. In the 2023/24 academic year, the UGC grant (government subvention) received by CUHK totalled HK$6,434 million^※, the University's single largest source of income that year.

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# II. Why Were Local Undergraduate Tuition Fees Frozen for Nearly 30 Years?

Tuition fees for local full-time undergraduates were fixed at HK$42,100 per year in the 1997/98 academic year and remained unadjusted for roughly 27 years. It was not until June 2024 that the government announced a phased increase over three academic years, reaching HK$49,500 by 2027/28^※:

Government papers explain that the underlying policy target is for tuition fees to cover 18% of the cost of education, but owing to inflation the actual recovery rate had slipped to around 12.5% after 1997. The government cites the fact that "the Composite Consumer Price Index has risen by 40% since 1997/98" to characterise this adjustment as "moderate". It is worth noting that the same fee rate applies to UGC-funded taught and research postgraduate programmes, not just undergraduate degrees. Each enrolled student pays the prevailing rate for the given academic year; fees are not locked in at the year of entry.

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# III. Why Do Non-Local Students Pay Four Times the Local Rate?

Non-local tuition fees are market-based charges set autonomously by the university and are not bound by the UGC’s 18% cost-recovery benchmark; they are grounded in benchmarking and financial sustainability. For the 2025/26 academic year, CUHK’s annual non-local undergraduate tuition rose sharply by 22.8% to HK$178,000^※ compared with 2024/25, the highest percentage increase among the eight UGC-funded institutions that year. CUHK explained that this was "the first adjustment in seven years, to address inflationary pressure." The fee will rise further to HK$214,000^※ in 2026/27, starting from which cohort annual increases will be capped at 3%.

Below is a comparison of non-local undergraduate tuition fees across institutions for 2025/26 (using the general annual non-local undergraduate fee as a reference):

Data sources: Dot Dot News (January 2025)^※ and StudyIn HK (2025/26 Tuition Comparison)^※.

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# IV. How Has Tuition Revenue Grown After the Non-Local Quota Increase?

In line with the government’s "attract global talent" policy, the admission ceiling for non-local students was raised from 20% to 40% from the 2024/25 academic year^※ (calculated against the local-student intake target). In the first year, the eight UGC-funded institutions collectively admitted about 17,000 non-local undergraduates, approximately 23% of the local intake target and still below the 40% cap, indicating that the expansion space has yet to be fully utilised — for the specific mechanism by which mainland Chinese students are admitted through the unified early-admission track, see The Mainland Gaokao Admission Track: Early Batch, Code 81002, English 120 Threshold. Legislative Council papers disclosed that in 2023/24 there were roughly 23,100 non-local students across UGC-funded institutions, of whom about 14,800 were undergraduates (19.9% of the local intake target); around 73% came from mainland China, Macau, or Taiwan.

In terms of tuition revenue, a StudyIn HK analysis^※ estimates that in 2023/24, aggregate tuition fee income from self-financed taught postgraduate programmes across the eight institutions exceeded HK$12 billion, accounting for about 58% of total sectoral tuition income. Non-local student fees altogether contributed roughly 22.3% of total tuition revenue. CUHK’s annual report likewise notes that in 2023/24 approximately 60% of tuition and programme fees came from non-UGC-funded (i.e., self-financed) programmes^※, highlighting the dominant role of self-financed programmes in overall tuition income.

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# V. Who Sets Tuition for Self-Financed Postgraduate Programmes, and How Much Can They Charge?

Taught postgraduate programmes constitute the most important source of self-financed income for CUHK. Each faculty sets its own fees, and the Business School’s suite of programmes is especially prominent. Taking CUHK Business School programmes with a 2027 intake as a reference:

Data source: CUHK Business School Masters pages^※; fees are noted as "subject to University approval." Self-financed master’s tuition in faculties outside the Business School (e.g., Education, Science) varies widely, typically falling between HK$80,000 and HK$250,000. Overall, self-financed taught postgraduate tuition at CUHK rose at an average annual rate of about 4.3% between 2019/20 and 2024/25^※, exceeding Hong Kong’s average inflation rate of roughly 2.1% over the same period.

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# VI. What Financial Role Does the School of Continuing and Professional Studies (CUSCS) Play?

The School of Continuing and Professional Studies (CUSCS), established in 1965 (formerly the Department of Extra-Mural Studies) and renamed in 2006, is an entirely self-financed, independently operated unit under CUHK^※ that receives no direct financial support from the University’s recurrent budget. It sustains its operations through its own tuition revenue, with its programme policies overseen by the Senate’s Committee on Sub-degree, Professional and Continuing Education Programmes.

In the 2023/24 academic year, CUSCS offered 73 award-bearing programmes^※ alongside a large portfolio of general interest, distance-learning, and corporate training courses, spanning business, information technology, healthcare, languages, and creative media. Its headquarters are in Tsim Sha Tsui, supplemented by four learning centres across Hong Kong. As a self-financed unit, CUSCS tuition is not bound by the UGC’s "5.5% annual" adjustment mechanism; fees are instead determined by market supply and demand and cost recovery. Sub-degree tuition is generally lower than formal taught master’s programmes but must still comply with fee caps set under the relevant government qualifications framework and subsidy schemes.

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# VII. Where Do Self-Financed Programme Surpluses Go? What Is the Cross-Subsidisation Prohibition?

The use of surpluses from self-financed programmes and their regulatory framework constitute one of the core internal financial management constraints of the University. According to CUHK Finance Office’s Regulatory Disclosure page^※, the University applies an indirect-cost recovery mechanism to self-financed programmes, with a levy rate ranging from 18% to 36% (depending on the type of facility used and level of service), as compensation for their consumption of the University’s shared resources (campus, administration, IT infrastructure, etc.). This mechanism dates back to 1995 and was comprehensively standardised from the 2018/19 academic year under the UGC’s "Cost Allocation Guidelines for UGC-funded and Non-UGC-funded Activities" (CAGs).

The framework’s core principle is a prohibition on cross-subsidisation: self-financed programmes may not draw on UGC-funded resources (the government-funded portion of teaching space, administrative staff, research facilities, etc.) to lower their own costs; conversely, surpluses from self-financed programmes should not be used to subsidise activities that ought to be covered by the UGC block grant. The CUHK Finance Office’s official statement explicitly notes: "The University’s offering of self-financed programmes is not profit-driven but rather fulfils a social responsibility in education, meeting learning needs at the sub-degree and continuing education levels as a complement to UGC-funded academic activities."

After deducting the indirect-cost levy, any net surplus remaining in faculty or programme accounts may be used by the relevant academic unit (such as the Business School or Faculty of Law) for teaching development, student financial aid, capital investment, and other intra-faculty purposes, provided such use complies with the University’s financial regulations. Publicly available financial reports do not separately disclose the surplus figures for individual self-financed programmes; these amounts are consolidated within the University’s overall reporting under "Restricted Funds" or the General and Development Reserve.

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# Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What are the tuition fees at CUHK in 2025?

A: From the 2025/26 academic year, annual tuition for local undergraduates and postgraduates (UGC-funded) is HK$44,500, a 5.5% increase from the HK$42,100 rate that had been frozen for nearly 30 years. Non-local undergraduate tuition in the same year jumped 22.8% to HK$178,000, the steepest percentage rise among the eight UGC-funded institutions that year. The ratio between the two is roughly 1:4.

Q: What are CUHK’s tuition fees in general?

A: CUHK’s tuition operates on three tracks based on residency status: Local undergraduates and postgraduates (UGC-funded) pay HK$44,500/year in 2025/26, a rate centrally set by the government on a triennial cycle. Non-local undergraduates pay HK$178,000/year in the same year, rising further to HK$214,000/year in 2026/27 (with annual increases capped at 3% from that cohort onwards), set autonomously by the University. Self-financed taught postgraduate tuition is separate, set by individual faculties; a sample of Business School programmes ranges from HK$230,000 to HK$605,000 per programme.

Q: What are the postgraduate tuition fees at CUHK?

A: UGC-funded research postgraduate programmes share the same fee rate as undergraduate degrees — HK$44,500/year in 2025/26. Tuition for self-financed taught postgraduate programmes varies widely. Within the Business School, the indicative total fee is about HK$567,000 for the full-time MBA (2024/25 reference), roughly HK$420,000 for the Master of Accountancy, and around HK$460,000 for the MSc in Finance (all 2027 intake references). Self-financed master’s tuition in faculties outside the Business School typically ranges from HK$80,000 to HK$250,000.

Q: How do CUHK scholarships and tuition fees relate to each other?

A: This page outlines the tuition and funding structure. Non-local tuition revenue constitutes a faculty’s own income, a portion of which is paired with scholarship expenditure. Specific admission scholarship amounts and eligibility criteria fall outside the scope of this page. Neither the UGC block grant nor self-financed programme surpluses may be used to cross-subsidise anything beyond scholarship expenditure. For scholarship amounts and application details, see Tuition, Accommodation Fees, and Entry Scholarships.

Q: Where does the money from CUHK’s self-financed programmes go after tuition is collected?

A: Self-financed programmes must pay an indirect-cost levy of 18% to 36% to the University (depending on the type of facility and level of service). The net surplus after this deduction is retained in the relevant faculty or programme account and may be used for teaching development, student financial aid, and other intra-faculty purposes. By regulation, it may not be fed back to subsidise activities covered by the UGC block grant — this is the cross-subsidisation prohibition principle.

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# VIII. Three Parallel Tracks: A Summary of Local, Non-Local, and Self-Financed Tuition

These three tuition tracks operate in parallel on the same campus, but their financial flows are mutually segregated: the UGC block grant sustains local student places and core operations, non-local tuition revenue constitutes a faculty’s own income supplemented by scholarship expenditure, and self-financed programmes must cover their own costs and pay an indirect-cost levy to the University. Cross-subsidisation among the three is not permitted under current regulations, forming a financial ecosystem that is at once separate and complementary.

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Further reading: For CUHK’s overall annual financial figures (total income of HK$13.16 billion, net assets of HK$31.56 billion, etc.), see Financial Overview and Endowment Funds.