Medical Students Face Tuition Increases

Last June 15, protesting students, faculty and administrative staff heckled President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who visited the University of the Philippines (UP) in Manila. They raised issues like the budget cut of the University of the Philippines (UP) and tuition increases.

BY ZOFIA LEAL
Bulatlat

Three of the 50 protesters were detained with the threat of being charged with inciting to sedition. They were released two days after.  Needless to say, the fight continues.

According to Nickson Austria, one of the protesters and a third-year medical student at UP Manila, this is the first time since 1992 that the UP College of Medicine (CM) increased its tuition. It is also the reason being used by the UP administration for implementing the 74% increase for the incoming freshmen of CM. The total tuition for the freshmen is now P20,045.50 ($376.37, based on an exchange rate of P53.26 per US dollar) from P11,529 ($216.47). 

Before the implementation of the tuition increase, there were consultations between the Office of the Dean and the students. The stand of the students were firm; they are against the tuition increase. 

However, it was still implemented. Austria and his fellow students have already filed an appeal stating that the implemented increase was not the one consulted to the students.  “The sad thing is, yung kino-consult na TFI proposal, hindi siya yung approved.  May proposal si Dean, may proposal si Chancellor.  Ang proposal ni Chancellor ay yung inisip niya lang.  Mag-isa lang siya, wala siyang committee, hindi siya dumaan sa university assembly, anything, anybody, faculty, wala.  Pinasa niya yun sa BOR directly na magkaiba dun sa proposal na kino-consult sa estudyante”, Austria said. (The sad thing is, the tuition increase that they consulted was not the one approved.  The Dean (Cecilia V. Tomas) and the Chancellor (Ramon Arcadio) had different proposals.  The Chancellor’s proposal was not deliberated upon by a committee nor a university assembly, anything, anybody, not even the faculty.  He passed it directly to the Board of Regents which is different from the proposal that was being presented for consultation.)  

Furthermore, UP also faced a budget cut with the re-enactment of the 2003 budget for this year. Eighty percent of the whole UP budget is being provided by the government while 20% is the revolving fund or the self-generated income of the university.  The UP Plan 2008, which is one of the policies for the preparation of the centennial of the university aims that 80% will be the self-generated income which is taken from business concessions, land rentals and of course, the tuition of the students.  According to the students, UP is a state university which should be 100% subsidized by the government. 

The UP College of Medicine is one of the 36 medical schools in the Philippines. Other medical schools that applied for an increase are Cebu Doctors’s University (10%), Velez College (8.5%), Our Lady of Fatima University Valenzuela, St. Luke’s College of Medicine and University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center.  

The University of Santo Tomas (UST) Faculty of Medicine and Surgery increased its tuition by 7% for freshmen or P2,669.30 ($50.12) and 5.5% or P2,097.30 ($39.38) for the higher levels. The total tuition for this school year is now P40,801.75 ($766.09) for the freshmen and P40,229.75 ($755.35) for the higher years. 

There were no consultations held between the UST students and administration regarding the tuition increase of the said faculty because as stated in CHED Memo No. 14, there is no need for consultations if the increase will be lower than the inflation rate.   

The Commission of Higher Education Memorandum No. 14 was already declared illegal by Congress because it exempted from consultations the increases that are within or below the declared inflation rate. It also exempted from consultations increases imposed to incoming first-year students. Therefore, CHED left its responsibility to regulate the tuition as mandated by the Education Act of 1982.      

In terms of student applicants, there were decreases at UP, but Austria admitted that other factors such as the decline of students’ interest in medicine may be one of the reasons. 

With the current rate of tuition increases, it is no wonder that there are students who dare to heckle the President. Bulatlat 

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