This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 18, June 12-18, 2005
Bigger Tuition
Hikes Greet School Opening
By Carl Marc Ramota Last year, 381 or 28.84
percent of 1,321 private higher educational institutions (PHEIs) applied for
tuition increase. This year, CHEd officials said, fewer private institutions or
205 schools applied for tuition increase this year. CHEd spoke too soon. Its
own report last May revealed that actually 276 or 20.49 percent of the total
1,347 PHEIs applied for tuition hike. In the commission’s partial
report, the national average tuition hike is pegged at 11.52 percent from 11.37
percent increase in 2004. Now, the national average tuition per unit is P353.03
per unit, an increase of P36.43 from last year's rate. NCR still tops tuition
increases it having the most number of schools that increased tuition at 65. But
Regions 10, 6, 9 and the Cordillera Autonomous Region (CAR) registered the
biggest percentage of PHEIs that increased tuition. Region 10 had 33.87 percent
of schools or 21 out of 62 schools increasing their tuition; Region 6, 32.43
percent of the schools or 24 out of 74 schools; Region 9, 31.91 percent or 15
out of 47 schools; and in CAR, 31.03 percent or 9 of the 29 schools. Compared to other regions,
however, Region 8 has the highest average percentage tuition increase with 19.26
percent hike. The lowest recorded tuition hikes are in Regions 10 and 11 with
9.36 percent and 9.78 percent, respectively. CHEd has also included more
requirements for tuition increase application. Schools intending to increase
tuition must submit a Certificate of Compliance that previous year's incremental
proceeds from tuition increase were used for personnel services and improvement
of facilities and a Certificate of Agreement in the application of new fees to
signify that new school charges were initiated and agreed upon by students. Besides, said Raymond
Palatino, Anak ng Bayan (nation’s youth) Party vice president, there are more
loopholes in the controversial memo. For instance documents required for tuition
hike applications, he said, can be easily fabricated to justify the proposed new
increases. "The new memo does not
provide any measure that will delve deeper into these reports and tuition
increases in the previous years prior to the new CMO,” Palatino said. “Since
CHEd's creation, we have yet to hear of a school penalized by the commission for
violating its guidelines and for illegally tuition hike." Furthermore, CMO No. 14
stipulates that if the CHEd Regional Office (CHEdRO) and the Task Force on
Tuition and Other School Fees failed to act within 30 days from receipt of the
application and cases elevated to them, the intended increase will be
automatically implemented. This makes any complaint futile as CHEd will approve
applications for tuition hikes anyway, student groups say. Considered the premier
state university in the country, UP has seven autonomous universities – UP
Diliman, UP Los Baños, UP Manila, UP Visayas, UP Open University, UP Mindanao
and UP Baguio - and operates in 11 campuses nationwide. The university offers
492 graduate and undergraduate programs to more than 50,000 students. Palatino sees an upsurge in
college dropouts this year. "College hopefuls have nowhere else to go. They may
just have to give up their dream of earning a college diploma," he said.
Bulatlat © 2004 Bulatlat
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Alipato Publications Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.
The Commission on Higher Education’s (CHEd) recent claim about a
tuition increase freeze this year is turning out to be mainly for public
consumption. As schools opened last week, more colleges had actually applied for
tuition hike and, to top it all, this year’s tuition increases were higher
compared to previous years.
Bulatlat
The Commission on Higher Education’s (CHEd) recent claim about a tuition
increase freeze this year is turning out to be mainly for public consumption. As
schools opened last week, more colleges had actually applied for tuition hike
and, to top it all, this year’s tuition increases were higher compared to
previous years.
Although the number of schools applying for tuition increase may have been
smaller, this year's average tuition hike is just the same higher compared to
last year.
In the National Capital Region (NCR or Metro Manila), tuition went up by 11.33
percent, higher than last year’s 10.83 percent hike. At present, tuition rate in
the NCR is P722.41 per unit or P15,170.61 for a full 21-unit load.
Highest tuition increase
In the NCR, the Asian Theological Seminary (ATS) posted the biggest tuition hike
with a 150 percent increase. Tuition per unit in ATS now stands at P1,500 from
P600 last year.
Tuition rate is highest at University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Memorial
Medical Center (UERMMMC) with P2,090.91 per unit or PP43,909.11 for a student
with a 21-unit load. Closely trailing UERMMMC is the University of Asia and the
Pacific (UA&P) with P2,079.82 per unit.
These schools are joined by De La Salle University (DLSU) - College of Saint
Benilde, with P1,772.20 per unit; DLSU Manila, P1,696.97; University of Santo
Tomas (UST), P1,427.39; Assumption College, Inc.,
P1,361.00; St. Scholastica's College-Manila, P1,335.60; Mapua Institute of
Technology (MIT), P1,302.91; Manila Central University (MCU), P1,164.98; and
Miriam College, P1,132.00.
New memo, new loopholes
Supposedly to arrest runaway tuition and miscellaneous fee increases, CHEd
issued a new order to tertiary schools applying for fee hikes. CMO No. 14
imposes a cap on tuition and miscellaneous fees based on the country's
prevailing inflation rate.
Youth and student groups have however opposed the new CHEd memo, saying it will
only "legitimize yearly increases in tuition and other school fees."
He said student representatives' experiences prove that consultations for
tuition increase application are for mere
information dissemination only with the increase enforced anyway despite strong
student resistance.
The Task Force on Tuition and Other School Fees, created by CHEd at
the regional level, will serve as a recommendatory body for all complaints and
disputes forwarded by the CHEDRO. Palatino said however that the task force
appears to have no genuine student representation. The body has nine members -
four from schools or school owners' associations; three are government
officials; a faculty union representative; and a student representative, which
will still be designated by the National Youth Commission which is under the
Presidential office.
"Unfortunately, CHEd is seeing tuition hikes as an inevitable process or a
natural phenomenon. Such framework serves CHEd's long-held axiom that quality
education comes with an expensive price tag," the Anak ng Bayan vice president
said.
Limited slots in SUCs
State universities and colleges (SUCs) are plagued by similar problems. Huge
budget cutbacks for the last years led to increases in tuition and other fees
thus forcing many state scholars to leave. Palatino said SUCs are also forced to
accept only a limited number of students due to financial constraints.
Last year, the University of the Philippines (UP) Office of Admissions said some
64,000 high school graduates all over the country applied for the UP College
Admission Test (UPCAT). Of these, 40,000 sought to enter UP Diliman alone, the
university's flagship campus.
But only about 11,000 applicants are finally admitted each year into the state
university. At its College of Nursing, only 70 or 0.5 percent of some 14,000
applicants are admitted.
The same goes with the Polytechnic University of the Philippines College
Entrance Test (PUP-CET). PUP has 16 branches and extensions in Luzon and each
unit conducts its own PUPCET. In PUP's main campus in Sta. Mesa, Manila about
50,000-80,000 students take up the entrance test every year but only 10,000 are
admitted. PUP's tuition is P12 per unit.
Palatino said that because of the perennial tuition hikes there is a very
limited space left for private school students who want to transfer to state
institutions. Those who do also they find SUCs increasingly prohibitive with
similar tuition hikes.