Many private universities reach record revenue in 2025

The number of students and revenue from tuition increased, helping many private universities set revenue records since announcing the information.

Since 2017, according to regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training, universities must disclose information annually, including financial data. According to the announcement of 2025 results, many private universities have a positive financial picture with record revenue.

Gia Dinh University - a member of Nguyen Hoang Education Group - recorded a total revenue of more than 285.8 billion VND, an increase of about 2.4 times compared to 2024. Sharing the same parent group, Hoa Sen University also reported a 3% increase in tuition revenue to more than 791.4 billion VND.

At Van Lang University, total operating revenue in 2025 will reach nearly 2,900 billion VND, an increase of more than 11% compared to the previous year. This is the third consecutive year the school has maintained a total revenue above the 2,500 billion VND mark, making it into the group of higher education institutions with the highest revenue nationwide.

Some other private units such as Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics and Finance (UEF) recorded a 17% increase in revenue.

The schools' revenue improved thanks to the increase in the number of students, resulting in revenue from tuition and fees. Compared to 2024, Hoa Sen and UEF have an increase in the number of students pursuing bachelor's and postgraduate degrees of over 10%. And Gia Dinh increased by nearly half.

Of the total revenue of schools, tuition fees often account for the majority, commonly around 90%. In addition, units also have additional revenue from scientific research and technology transfer, but the proportion is still modest.

Hoa Sen is the unit with the highest tuition and fee revenue per capita in 2025 in the survey group, reaching about 79.4 million VND. Followed by Gia Dinh with 41 million VND. This figure for UEF is about 34.8 million VND. Except for Hoa Sen University, whose average tuition fee decreased slightly by nearly 7% compared to the previous year, the remaining units all increased, in which Gia Dinh recorded a speed of more than 60%.

Corresponding to the revenue source, the difference after deducting the school's expenses also grew well. The revenue-expenditure gap can be understood similarly to a business's profit, but universities do not use this term in public reports.

The group with hundreds of billions of "profits" also includes Hoa Sen and UEF with increases of 5% and 21% respectively. Among them, UEF is a school with the ability to balance revenue and expenditure well, recording a difference of more than 203 billion VND, meaning that if it collects 10 VND, the school can have a surplus of 3.5 VND after deducting fees.

Particularly, Gia Dinh University recorded its "profit" going backwards. From nearly 118 billion VND in 2024, the revenue - expenditure gap of this unit will decrease by nearly 82% to more than 21 billion VND. The main reason is that salaries, income for lecturers and staff, expenditure on facilities and quality increased higher than other units.