Before leaving office, former Minister of Education Huang Jong-tsun pledged that the MOE would work to stem tuition hikes for the 2004 school year. The Executive Yuan, however, denied the more than NT $ 2 billion in funds requested by the MOE, tying the hands of Huang's successor Tu Cheng-sheng who was obliged to announce the implementation of a "Flexible School Cost Program."
由於前教育部長黃榮村卸任前曾承諾，九十三學年度的大學學費將朝不調漲的方向努力，不過卻因原本計畫向行政院爭取的二十多億元補助款落空，使得新任部長杜正勝陷入巧婦難為的困境，不得不宣布實施「學雜費彈性方案」。