How Istanbul’s Schools and Universities Reached a Crossroads: A Look Back at Two Decades of Change

Tuition fees at Istanbul’s leading universities topped 120,000 lira this spring—nearly double what many families paid three years ago and a sharp reminder of how the city’s education landscape has been transformed by inflation, shifting demographics, and years of state and local policy battles.

The issue has become increasingly urgent for many Istanbulites this summer, with the University Entrance Exam (YKS) results published last week and the new academic year’s registration period set to open on July 22. Thousands of anxious families from Avcılar to Kadıköy are scrambling not only to secure places at top schools but also to afford them.

The Political Backdrop: Local and National Tensions

Politics have played a defining role in the fate of education across the city. Ever since Ekrem İmamoğlu took office as mayor in 2019, municipal projects to expand preschool access and improve existing public schools have clashed with central government priorities. The CHP-led Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) opened its signature İBB Nursery Centers in Fatih and Ümraniye, boasting 77 branches citywide by 2026, while the Erdoğan administration continued to funnel state resources towards imam hatip religious schools. The rift has left ordinary families caught in the middle—caught between rising costs at private institutions and a patchwork of public sector upgrades.

Meanwhile, Istanbul’s universities, from the historic Boğaziçi Üniversitesi in Beşiktaş to Sabancı University’s sprawling Tuzla campus, have found themselves at the centre of ideological battles over curriculum, governance, and student admissions. The government’s controversial rector appointments and university protests in 2021 now feel like distant but formative flashpoints. "It all started when the old rules around rector elections were scrapped," a Boğaziçi faculty member recalled recently, “and we’ve been adapting ever since.”

Demographic Pressure, Inflation, and the Refugee Factor

Layered atop the political context are simple issues of numbers and money. Istanbul’s official population hit 16.1 million in 2024, but some demographers estimate it is closer to 18 million if counting unregistered residents and the city’s sizeable Syrian refugee community, which municipal records put at over 535,000 this year. The influx has contributed to classroom crowding in attended schools like Mehmet Akif Ersoy Ortaokulu in Esenyurt and made competition for Anadolu and science high schools fiercer than ever.

The cost barrier looms large. According to a 2025 TÜİK report, average annual tuition at Istanbul’s top ten private universities soared to 160,000 lira this year, an increase of 78% since 2022, outpacing official inflation. Even Istanbul University, historically a low-cost public option on Beyazıt Square, has warned students that dormitory and meal fees will rise in September. New buildings—such as the glass-and-steel expansion at Istanbul Medipol University in Bağcılar—draw applause for capacity increases but also concern about growing inequality, as few scholarship slots exist relative to demand.

International rankings provide perspective but not much comfort: despite improvements in research output, no Turkish university cracked the top 400 globally in this year’s Times Higher Education index. The gap between ambition and resources is a dominant theme among both parents in Bakırköy and students in Üsküdar.

What’s Next for Istanbul’s Students—and Their Parents

With the new school year approaching, families face a difficult calculus: state, private, or prep? The Istanbul Directorate of National Education has promised 2,000 new public school classrooms in 2026, with a concentration in districts like Küçükçekmece and Sultangazi. Some programs—such as the Bahçeşehir Koleji scholarship competition—offer a lifeline for merit-based admissions, but spaces remain tightly limited.

Parents are being urged by education NGOs like Eğitim-Sen to check registration windows and scholarship opportunities closely and to beware of informal prep courses that have proliferated in the wake of official exam reforms. For many, the long-term hope is that a more stable lira and continued municipal investments will help ease the pressures. For now, every family in Istanbul’s vast and competitive education system is doing the math—neighbourhood by neighbourhood, school by school, lira by lira.