Al-Ahram state-run newspaper quoted on Thursday the president of the American University in Cairo, Francis Ricciardone, as reassuring students of the University that none of them would be dismissed or forced to stop their studies because of inability to pay tuition fees. About 850 students applied for the emergency program, according to AUC media relations director Rehab Saad. She explained that negotiations were currenty ongoing between the parents of students and the AUC administration on fees for upcoming years. The Central Bank of Egypt announced the flotation of the Egyptian pound on November 3, consequently almost doubling the exchange rate of the US dollar against the pound; AUC students pay half their tuition fees in Egyptian pound and the other half in US dollar. Hundreds of AUC students demonstrated in November demanding that the university sets tuition fees that would remain fixed for the coming three years.

Source: Egypt Independent January 12, 2017 11:07 UTC