For quite some time the issue regarding the disparity in tuition rates charged RoA citizens and non-citizens in Armenia's various institutions of higher learning has been on the front pages. Students from the diaspora, which also includes those from Javakhk, have been paying upwards of 30% more than students from Armenia. Diaspora-Armenian students have frequently met with Hranush Hakobyan, Minister of Diaspora Affairs regarding the discriminatory practice and have called for an equitable tuition schedule. On April 9, 2009, Armen Ashotyan, then Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Scientific, Educational, Cultural, Youth and Sports Affairs, discussed modifications to the "Law on Higher Education and Post-Graduate Study". Mr. Ashotyan, who has since been appointed RoA Minister of Science and Education, says that the reform package seeks to facilitate the inclusion of Armenian students from outside the RoA in the country's educational system and to safeguard their rights. He said that this is all the more urgent given Javakhk's strategic significance in the preservation of Armenian identity. "Hetq" also sought clarification of the matter from Amalya Kocharyan, an international cooperation specialist at the Education Ministry. She said that the issue of equalizing tuitions was supposed to have been taken up by the schools themselves and their conclusions then presented to the ministry. "Most of the tuitions related to Diaspora-Armenian students have since been modified and are now on an equal footing with RoA students. This has been the case at the State Pedagogical Institute, the Physical Culture College and the State Conservatory. Yerevan's State Medical College also made corresponding changes last year. Yerevan State University has still failed to present its findings to the Education Ministry."