For many families in Addis Abeba, the new school year has brought an unwelcome surprise. Rapidly rising tuition fees at some of the city’s most prominent international schools have prompted parents to voice alarm and, in some cases, outright anger as they face the prospect that their children’s education could soon become unaffordable.

The tensions brought forth the need to maintain high-quality schooling in a country where the Birr’s value has been sliding, compelling many "international" schools to hedge their operational costs in dollars and other foreign currency denominations.

Flipper International School (FIS) has become one of the battleground schools between aggrieved parents and administrators, who are responsible for pleasing owners with bottom lines.

Founded in 1998 by educators and now operating five branches in Addis Abeba, the school was acquired last month by ADvTECH Group, a South African private equity firm. Among parents at FIS, discontent has been building over what they describe as inconsistent and unpredictable fee structures. However, the school's administrators say they are only adjusting to the volatile currency value. Yet, the tensions between parents and administrators grew so intense that the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), representing 3,000 students at FIS, filed a complaint with the Federal Education Training Authority (ETA).

At the heart of the dispute is a debate over foreign currency pricing. Parents had been paying tuition denominated in dollars for some time, with an exchange rate locked in at 57 Br to the dollar. Subsequent to the liberalisation of the foreign exchange market in late July this year, FIS's management opted to move to an exchange rate of 74 Br to the dollar, raising the cost for parents. Many families say they were caught off guard, looking at combined annual bills that could rise by hundreds of thousands of Birr.

Meron Asfaw, a 48-year-old mother who enrolled her three children at FIS in 2021 in search of high-quality education, is one of the parents with misgivings. She said the schools demanded to quote in dollars soon after she enrolled.

“I'm afraid I won’t be able to afford it if it goes on like this,” Meron told Fortune, considering the school's initial exchange rate of 57 Br a tolerable compromise.

But when it jumped to 74 Br, her total payment climbed by nearly 63,000 Br for one term. She elaborated that her childrens' term fees had been a combined 3,700 dollars, equivalent to 211,000 Br at the old rate. The bill climbed to 273,800 Br under the new rate.

She questioned why authorities had tolerated dollar-based pricing all along.

“In what sense is that okay?” she wondered.

Meron could not reconcile the practice with regular public statements from officials insisting that the Birr should remain the main instrument for transactions. She believes regulators such as the ETA should ensure the school applies a transparent and fair rate.

Other parents similarly question the fairness of charging tuition at fluctuating exchange rates. Another FIS parent, Tiblets Gebregziabher, is a mother of twins in first grade and pays 1,000 dollars per term for each child. She says the new exchange rates might soon stretch her household budget beyond its limit, but she feels she has few options for relocating her children.

“I've no choice but to keep paying as long as I can afford,” she said.

She worries that further depreciation of the Birr could move tuition beyond her reach.

Adding to the parent-led complaints is a belief that FIS has been charging varying amounts for the same grade level under different pricing categories. Parents cite several “fee categories” in which a grade eight student in category four or five pays around 100,000 Br per term, while a student in category one pays 35,000 Br, with categories two and three set at 40,000 Br and 48,000 Br, respectively. The parents’ association considers these disparities a violation of the principle of equity and has demanded that the school adopt uniform pricing for all students in the same grade.

The Federal Education Training Authority, which regulates private, international, and community schools, intervened when the dispute escalated. Its officials told FIS administrators to suspend the tuition increases until further notice. Parents and school administrators were directed to present separate proposals outlining acceptable fees, and the ETA pledged to settle on a rate that both sides could accept.