The Japanese government is planning to offer free university tuition and related expenses for households having three or more children starting from the fiscal year 2025, which ends in March 2026. The scheme is expected to have no income limit and will be one of the significant initiatives launched by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to address Japan's declining birth rate. The government will incorporate the program into its plan to enhance children's future, which will be determined by year-end. The free tuition program now extends to include students of junior colleges, technical colleges, and other educational institutions.
Japan has a program that provides financial assistance to students from households with an annual income of less than 3.8 million Yen to cover their tuition fees. The program is being expanded from the financial year 2024 to also cover households with an annual income of up to 6 million Yen having three or more children. The expansion is aimed at providing more aid to households struggling with education costs.
The government is planning to increase the upper limit of the childcare subsidy from the current ¥6,250 per month to ¥10,420 provided to single-parent and low-income households for the third child and further on, which is the same amount provided for the second child. For families having only one child, the government is also considering increasing the annual income cap from the current ¥1.6 million to ¥1.9 million for low-income households eligible for the full amount of the allowance. Also, the cap for households eligible for part of the allowance is likely to increase from the current limit of ¥3.65 million to ¥3.85 million.
The government intends to secure a yearly budget of over ¥3 trillion for the actions taken to address the issue of the declining birth rate. To achieve this goal, the government plans to introduce special surcharges that must be paid in addition to the regular public medical insurance premiums while implementing expenditure reforms and utilising existing financial resources.
