Scholarship for our Vietnamese students in higher education for 2026
Funds raised so far: 3%
What difficulties are Vietnamese students facing?
In Vietnam, thousands of students face financial challenges that threaten their dreams of accessing higher education. From high tuition fees to living costs, many are forced to give up their studies, trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty.
How does Children of the Mekong hope to act?
Children of the Mekong’s goal is to enable every sponsored young person to obtain a diploma and find a job that matches their talents, in order to break the cycle of poverty and become a model of responsibility for their country. However, some of our sponsored children see their studies threatened by factors beyond their control that sponsorship alone cannot resolve.
What is the reality for many Vietnamese students?
According to UNESCO, Vietnam had nearly 2 million students in 2020 out of a population of 97 million. Only 10.2% of the Vietnamese population over the age of 25 has a level of education equivalent to a bachelor’s degree. Higher education remains the preserve of a small elite due to its excessive cost. However, a higher education degree gives its holder access to jobs that, while not always better paid than factory work (e.g. for teachers), are stable and less strenuous.
In the country’s major university cities (mainly Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City), many students struggle with precarious living conditions, revealing the challenges faced by many young people in the country seeking higher education. Despite the government’s encouragement to pursue university studies, testimonials from our sponsored students highlight a difficult reality. Today, in the Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi regions, the annual cost of a university student is approximately VND 50 to 86 million (€2,000 to €3,440) per year.
Although a large proportion of students work part-time to finance their studies, this is not enough. Hourly wages are unpredictable, and students in certain fields – medicine, for example – have no free time to devote to part-time work. They can limit their spending on housing (by cramming into small studio flats) or food (by eating only one meal a day), but they cannot reduce their tuition fees.
Housing is another major challenge. Students from rural provinces who come to the capital often find themselves forced into cramped living conditions, sharing small rooms in overcrowded buildings.
What has been the proposed solution for more than 5 years?
Aware of the difficulties faced by our sponsored children, Children of the Mekong set up a support project for Vietnamese students in 2019. After five years of implementation and more than 1,200 students helped, this project took on a new dimension in 2024 with the introduction of scholarships to ease the financial burden on students and allow them to focus on their studies.
With a maximum value of €400, this scholarship is in addition to the sponsorship already received by each student, with the aim of enabling them to pay their full university fees. It is awarded following a rigorous process: application submission, review of applications by a committee, and an award meeting. In return, students sign a code of conduct committing themselves to studying hard, sharing their experiences and helping our programme managers on an ad hoc basis if necessary.
Project highlights
- This project ensures that all Children of the Mekong sponsored children in Vietnam receive uninterrupted funding for their education.
- This project enables sponsored children to focus on their studies with peace of mind.
- This project allows for personalised support for each student and is an effective bridge to mentoring.
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How will the project positively impact students?
This financial support has other positive repercussions: it allows our sponsored students to live with dignity while limiting their debt and that of their families, reduces dropout rates during their studies, and has even encouraged young high school students to continue their studies after graduation, knowing that this support exists. Your generosity significantly lightens the financial burden on our sponsored students and gives them a real break, which is essential for their academic and personal success.
This project to support sponsored children in higher education or vocational training aims to enable Children of the Mekong to fully commit to its sponsored students and provides it with the financial means to take appropriate and attentive action. Thanks to personalised financial support, we enable young people to complete their studies at university or in vocational training.
Van Anh is in her 3rd year at Hanoi University studying Business and has been sponsored since 2016. Van Anh was abandoned by her parents when she was young. She went to live with her grandmother, who always did her utmost to support her but, due to old age, was unable to work and therefore depended on the generosity of others. Despite these difficulties, Van Anh has always made a great effort at school and started university in 2021.
“Since I started university, I’ve found everything from the academic environment to living expenses, friendships and more to be extremely challenging. All these factors put a lot of pressure on me, which made it very difficult to overcome.
However, thanks to the support of your organisation, my life has been filled with hope and has improved greatly. Since then, I have found the motivation to work harder, not only for myself but also for my family, and to repay the immense help I have received from the organisation. Now, as a third-year business school student, I’m continuing to strive for the best academic result.”
Terexa is in her 3rd year at Hanoi University of Industry specialising in Logistics and Supply Chain Management. Her family situations means that her parents struggle to fund her studies as she also has 5 other siblings that need supporting. Her older brother is the main funder of her and her sister’s university tuitions as she is also pursuing a degree. However, this is not enough to cover all their expenses and Children of the Mekong has helped her fund her degree:
“With the extra money from benefactors, I usually save up to buy the necessary books and school supplies, food and I save up to enrol on an English course next summer. I’m always grateful to the benefactors who always care about me and help me so that I can cover my student life. I feel everyone’s love for us. I pray that you will always be healthy and at peace in God’s love. I will try harder in my studies to achieve my goals and not disappoint the benefactors who have always believed in me and accompanied me!”
Who will benefit from this project?
The proportion of our sponsored children pursuing higher education remains very low: around 10%. This is due to the excessive cost of higher education in Vietnam. Although student sponsorship is available, it only covers a small portion of the expenses associated with higher education. On average, our sponsored children in higher education estimate their expenses at €200 per month. Student sponsorship therefore only covers around 20% of their expenses.
These sponsored children are particularly vulnerable due to the significant financial burden and family pressure they face. Most of them have to leave their rural hometowns to attend one of the country’s major university cities. They must therefore be able to pay rent and cope with the higher cost of living in the city compared to the countryside. In addition to their daily living expenses, they must pay their tuition fees and various other costs (supplies, insurance, uniforms, etc.).
Many students juggle several jobs, studying during the day and working at night, to the detriment of their health. Most of them are also forced to take out bank loans to cover all these expenses because their families are unable to help them. Due to all these difficulties, every year, some of these young people drop out of school despite the efforts of our local teams.
