A Vietnamese university has cancelled a 19% tuition hike in response to student protest.

Students arrived at Hong Bang University in Ho Chi Minh City on Wednesday morning to discover that their fees for the upcoming semester had been raised with no notice. Several hundred of them rallied all day in 95-degree heat at the university gates, snarling local traffic.

College officials met with student representatives at the end of the day, and emerged with an agreement to drop the tuition increase.

The increase was announced at a time of rising unemployment in Vietnam, as the worldwide economic crisis depresses the country’s exports.