Students Intensify Efforts to Stop Hikes in Tuition, Other Fees

Students from various state and private higher education institutions held a series of protests against another impending round of fee hikes for the coming school year. In the midst of the global financial crisis, students argued that increasing the cost of education will drive them out of schools.

BY JEFFREY OCAMPO
Contributor
Bulatlat

Students from various state and private colleges and universities held a mass action against tuition and other fee increases in front of the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) office inside the University of the Philippines, Diliman campus, February 27.

Despite the memorandum issued on February 5 by CHEd Chairman Emmanuel Angeles calling on colleges and universities to freeze tuition, 258 private higher educational institutions submitted applications for tuition increases for school year 2009 to 2010.

Deadline for consultations on proposed tuition hikes is on February 28.

The National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) branded Angeles’ move as a “mere lip service” as the memorandum turned out to be an appeal rather than an authoritative order from the commission.

The group seeks for a “concrete step” to address the issue immediately and “safeguard students and their parents from the surging cost of education.”

The NUSP spearheaded the protest action, along with the League of Filipino Students (LFS) and Kabataang Pinoy (Filipino Youth).

Earlier, similar mass actions condemning proposed tuition hikes have been conducted in different universities such as the Lyceum of the Philippines, University of the East (UE), Manila and Far Eastern University.