Aim: To assess whether the prospect of waiving tuition fees influences the academic performance of the students with the lowest admission test scores and consequent mandatory tuition.
Methods: We compared the 110 tuition-paying students with the students who did not have to pay tuition because they scored well on 1994-1997 admission tests to the Zagreb School of Medicine. We formed 3 control groups (high-, medium-, and low-ranked students on the admission test), each with the same number of students as the group of tuition-paying students. Students' performance was assessed after the first two academic years on the basis of their grades, number of tries to pass the same examination, the time needed to pass an examination after a course, and the number of repeated years.
Results: Of 110 tuition-paying students admitted to the School in the 1994-1997 period, 13 had their tuition permanently waived and were therefore excluded from the analysis. Tuition-paying students had an the average grade of 3.1 out of maximum 5, took each examination 1.7 times before passing it, needed more than five months to pass an examination, and repeated 1.5 years per student. Their performance parameters did not differ from those of the low-ranked group, but were significantly worse than of the medium-ranked and high-ranked groups. Students in the high-ranked group performed the best in all four parameters (the average grade was slightly above 4.0, they took each examination 1.2 times on average, needed less than 2 months to pass an examination, and repeated 0.3 years per student).
Conclusion: The prospect of waiving tuition fees had no influence on students' performance. The students' rank on the admission test strongly correlates with their later academic success.