Tesema Mengeste, graduate from the Department of Economics at Addis Abeba University (AAU) last year, receives a monthly net salary of 850 Br at one of the government revenue collecting organisations in Addis Abeba. Tesema does not, however, see this full amount as 100 Br is being sent to the Ministry of Revenue (MoR) in compliance with the student cost sharing arrangement.

"In the cost sharing agreement I made with Ministry of Education (MoE) while I was in University, the beneficiary shall start repaying within a maximum of one year after graduation; I do not know why it started the first month of earning income, Tesema told Fortune."

The Council of Ministers Regulation issued on higher education cost sharing stated that all beneficiaries of public institutions of higher learning shall share full costs related with boarding and lodging and a minimum 15pc of tuition related costs. The graduate, however, is not required to begin payments until one year after completion of studies.

"After the deduction of 10pc of my salary for the graduate tax, only 750 Br remains; an amount insufficient to cover my monthly expenses" said Tesema.

Though the regulation is composed as such, most employers seem to deduct the amount from the first month of the employment of the beneficiary.

Similarly, Wondosen Ayele, a graduate in Geography from Kotebe Teachers Collage last year and employed at a private company in Addis Abeba, told Fortune that he started paying the amount beginning his first month of employment.

The owner of a private auditing firm told Fortune that the public notice issued by MoR in September 2006 is confusing.

"There is no clear demarcation of when to start collecting the money from beneficiaries this and last year," he said.

According to Abebe Kebede, Public Relations head, at Federal Inland Revenue, beneficiaries have a right to start paying after six months of employment.

"But still we are insisting employers  convince their employees to start their repayment on the first month of employment," Abebe told Fortune. "If one is employed and earns money, the credit must be paid; the issue of when to commence can not be debatable."

Desalegn Samuel, Foreign and Public Relations head at MoE, told Fortune that the cost sharing regulation is under an amendment process due to some of its unclear points.

A committee drawn from MoE, Ministry of Justice (MoJ), MoR, Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MoFED), as well as the Prime Minister's Office, submitted its draft amendment to MoE to be presented to the Council of Ministers, according to Desalegn.

The Regulation applies to students that are newly admitted to an institution beginning from the 2003/04 academic year, as well as to students in their second year or above of training at the time of issuance. The amount of repayment depends on the type and duration of the programme, a stipulation that creates a higher fee for Medicine and Music school graduates.

A graduate from Yared Music School of AAU must repay 19,374 Br, while a graduate in Education or Physics will repay a total of 10,042 Br.

The number of students who have joined government institutions annually reached 41,000, according to a MoE Report this week.