Many universities charge higher fees for foreign students. Why do they do this? Do you believe that it is fair?
Sample Response
Many universities abroadforeign universities have a two-tier tuition-fee policya dual policy in case of their tuition fees as they charge foreign students more than local studentscharge foreign students higher than the local students. International students often need to pay up to 400 percent more than local students when it comes to higher education in countries like Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the UK. This is also the case in many other countries and a government's obligation to its citizens, prioritising citizensenforcing national privilege, tax payments by local peopletax payment by the local people and restricting the numbernumbers of international students are the main reasons, I believe. To begin with, different tuition fees for local and international students givegives an impression that ‘you are not equal’ and when we are fighting for equal rightsthe equal rights in every country, discrimination in university tuition feesthe discrimination in the university tuition fee seems unfairseems like an unfair one. However, university authoritiesthe university authority often states that this is a policy that actually ensures a better educational environmentbetter educational environment and fairness on university campusesin the university campuses. First reason they mention for the different higher education fees is the government’s obligation to its citizens. A government has a natural obligation to educateeducation its citizens while educating foreign students is not a direct obligation it has. This also ensures that a government is giving priority to its citizensenforcing the national privilege to its citizens while using the extra money earned from the international students to improve university educationfor the improvement of the university education. Another reason is that citizensThird, citizens of a country pay taxes to the governmentpay the tax to the government and thus should get the privilege in educating their next generation. Finally, higher university education costs help to control the flow of international studentsinternational students' flow in a country. To conclude, providing some opportunities to the local university students is not a bad idea but imposing up to fees up to five times higher for international students5x charges to the international students is an unfair policy in my opinion. It's unbelievable how far the university authorities are willing to push international students to collect their fees and earn extra moneyget their pay and earn the extra money. In this age of globalisation and equal rights, this is not justified at all.
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response clearly answers both questions, presenting several reasons for differential fees and maintaining a firm view that extreme charges are unfair. Its main limitation is presentation: the essay appears as one dense paragraph, and frequent awkward collocations and grammatical slips reduce precision. The highest-priority improvement is to separate and develop the reasons logically, then express each one in more natural, accurately controlled language.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
Both the reasons for higher fees and the fairness question are directly addressed, with a clear position and several relevant explanations, though some points remain general.
Develop the strongest justification, such as taxpayer subsidy, with a clearer explanation before evaluating why a four- or fivefold difference is unfair.
Coherence and Cohesion
The argument has a recognisable sequence from reasons to judgement, but the absence of paragraphing and the inconsistent sequence “First,” “Third,” and “Finally” weaken organisation.
Use separate paragraphs for the universities’ reasons and the fairness evaluation, with a complete and consistent progression of supporting points.
Lexical Resource
The essay uses a reasonable range of policy and education vocabulary, but recurring collocation problems reduce naturalness and precision.
Use standard expressions such as charge higher fees, subsidise domestic students, limit international enrolment, and generate additional revenue.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A range of complex structures is attempted and meaning stays clear, but agreement, articles, prepositions, and noun forms are frequently inaccurate.
Check subject-verb agreement and verb-noun forms, particularly in phrases such as “fees give,” “obligation to educate,” and “charges for international students.”
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Many universities charge higher fees for foreign students. Why do they do this? Do you believe that it is fair?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.