The proposal from the socialists stipulates that tuition fees “cannot exceed the amount set for the same study cycle in the 2025/2026 academic year,” thus remaining at 697 euros.
The Government planned to unfreeze the value of tuition fees starting next year, with an increase to a maximum of 710 euros for undergraduate courses.
Although the measure is not explicitly included in the proposed State Budget Law for 2026 (OE2026) presented by the Government, the PS attempted to block the unfreezing process during the committee stage.
In the afternoon, the parliamentary majority rejected the socialists’ intention, but towards the end of the proceedings, Chega announced a change in its voting position, allowing the proposal to pass.
In 2016, the parliament approved the freezing of the maximum tuition fee, initially proposed by the PCP as part of the State Budget for 2017.
The amount was then set at 1,067.85 euros, with successive reductions, and since 2020/2021, it has stood at 697 euros.
On the third day of committee votes on OE2026, the parliament also voted on an initiative by PSD and CDS-PP, which proposed indexing the increase in tuition fees to the inflation rate to clarify the executive’s intentions, but the proposal was rejected by the opposition.
The possibility of unfreezing the value of tuition fees from 2026 was first raised in January by the Minister of Education, Science and Innovation and confirmed in September when Fernando Alexandre announced the increase to 710 euros under OE2026.
[Updated at 21:28]
