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Tuition Fees: What the Law Requires from Your Private School (and the Cost of Not Complying)

September 25, 2026 · 4 min read

Charging tuition fees is not a free topic: the law specifies what must be disclosed, what cannot be conditioned, and what can never be withheld.

Before enrolling, the full cost in writing

The General Education Law does not leave the collection of tuition fees open to each school's interpretation. Article 170, section XXIV, specifies a clear violation: not disclosing, in writing and before enrollment, the total cost of the educational service for the upcoming cycle. Saying it verbally in a meeting or publishing it after the family has already signed is not enough: it must be in writing and available before the family decides to enroll their child.

This includes tuition, registration, and any regular fees charged by the school. What was not disclosed in advance cannot be charged as a surprise halfway through the cycle.

You cannot condition the service on purchasing from a single provider

Articles 146 and 170, section XXIII, prohibit conditioning the provision of the educational service on the purchase of uniforms, supplies, or any other materials from a specific provider. A school can suggest where to buy the uniform, but cannot deny enrollment or continued attendance because the family chose to buy elsewhere, as long as it meets the school's specifications (color, model, etc.).

One of the most common complaints PROFECO receives about private schools involves 'mandatory' uniform and book packages sold exclusively by the institution, at prices above market, presented as a condition for enrollment.

Student documents are not bargaining chips

Article 170, section XXII, prohibits withholding official student documents — report cards, certificates, transcripts — as a way to pressure payment of a debt. Along with withholding exams, this is one of the practices most flagged by PROFECO and the state educational authorities.

The source cited by PROFECO on various occasions (reported by Expansión Política, August 4, 2022) specifies the timeframe: documents must be delivered within a maximum of 15 days from the request, at no additional cost. It is not 15 business days, and the period does not start when the relationship between family and school ends, but from the moment the document is requested. A school can require the debt to be settled, but cannot use student documents as collateral or extend the delivery beyond that period.

Cost of non-compliance: fines in UMA

The penalties under the General Education Law are calculated in Unidades de Medida y Actualización (UMA), not fixed pesos, so their amount changes each year based on the value published by INEGI. With the daily value of the UMA in effect since February 1, 2026 ($117.31):

- Not providing the total cost in writing before enrollment, or conditioning the service on a single provider (sections XXIV and XXIII): from 100 to 1,000 UMA, i.e., from $11,731 to $117,310.

- Withholding student documents due to unpaid fees (section XXII): from 1,001 to 7,000 UMA, i.e., from $117,427 to $821,170.

These amounts are per violation and depend on the authority resolving the procedure; they are not a single cap for the entire school: multiple families affected by the same practice can lead to multiple sanctions.

PROFECO's additional notes on fees and debts

Beyond the General Education Law, PROFECO has repeatedly highlighted two practices that also generate frequent complaints in private schools: charging 'extraordinary' fees that were neither agreed upon nor disclosed in advance — effectively a mandatory collection —, and publicly displaying students' debts, for example on visible lists for other parents or in the classroom itself. Neither practice is permitted.

What to review before the new billing period begins

- That the total cost for the cycle is published in writing before enrollment opens.

- That no uniform or material package is a mandatory condition for enrollment or continued attendance.

- That the procedure to request student documents does not depend on being current with payments, and that delivery takes no more than 15 days from the request.

- That no 'extra' fee is charged without prior notice, and that no debt is publicly displayed.

This topic adds to another existing obligation for private schools: the 5% scholarship on tuition required by the Law, discussed in a separate blog post.