Tuition, other fees up in 1,257 schools

MANILA, Philippines - The school year opens next week with 354 private universities and colleges as well as 903 elementary and high schools raising their tuition and other fees.

The Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) said it approved the increases for the colleges and universities yesterday “after a month of careful scrutiny of the submissions.”

Out of 1,068 private elementary and high schools that applied for a tuition increase this year, the Department of Education (DepEd) said 903 were approved, 92 were disapproved and 70 are pending approval, with the increases averaging five to 10 percent.

CHEd chair Patricia Licuanan said the average tuition hike per unit for school year 2013-2014 is P37.45 or 8.5 percent nationwide, which is the lowest percentage increase in the past 10 years.

The decision permitting higher educational institutions (HEIs) to raise school fees came following the 413th regular CHEd meeting yesterday, wherein commissioners approved the figures verified and presented by the Office of Student Services.

A total of 451 out of 1,683 HEIs in the country filed petitions for tuition and other school fee increases this year.

Metro Manila, Region 4-A in Southern Tagalog and Region 3 or Central Luzon have the most number of HEIs that filed petitions for tuition hikes, at 308, 230 and 202, respectively.

Of the 95 HEIs that applied for an increase in the National Capital Region, 72 were given the go-signal, while Region 4-A (with 64 applications) and Region 3 (with 55 applications) had 52 and 37 approvals, respectively.

CHEd officials said HEIs in Metro Manila had a tuition increase of P64.04 or 6.79 percent per unit; Region 4-A had P48.81 or 7.86 percent; and Region 3, P44.48 or 8.86 percent.

The highest increases were in Region 2 or Cagayan Valley at P31.26 or 12.25 percent; Region 5 or Bicol at P44.77 or 11.83 percent; and Region 1 or the Ilocos provinces, P34.10 or 11.12 percent.

The average increase in other school fees nationwide is P194.62 or 7.58 per cent, CHEd reported.

On April 5, the Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges (PASUC) approved a moratorium on undergraduate tuition and miscellaneous fee increases in all public universities and colleges.

The resolution was passed following the suicide of University of the Philippines-Manila student Kristel Tejada last March.

Tejada, a behavioral science major, took her life allegedly after she was forced to take a leave of absence from her studies for failing to pay her tuition on time.

Meanwhile, the CHEd is pushing for the adoption of a financing framework to address the issues of higher education financing, access to affordable education, and financial viability of HEIs.

For this school year, the agency has allocated more than P706 million in scholarships for 52,517 beneficiaries under the Student Financial Assistance Programs (StuFAPs), 10 percent more than the slots provided for last year.

The StuFAPs support deserving students enrolled in public and private HEIs.

The CHEd is also proposing to increase its support to private higher education under the Expanded Private Education Student Financial Assistance Program amounting to P1 billion, equivalent to more than 32,000 slots.

HS tuition hikealso highest in MM

Metro Manila also has the highest number of private elementary and high schools raising tuition, with 260 out of 311 schools, followed by Region 3 with 227 out of 289 schools, and Region 6 or

Western Visayas where all 110 schools that applied for an increase got the green light from DepEd.

Sixty-nine schools will increase tuition in Region 1, 86 in Region 4-A, 32 in Region 4-B, 63 in Region 5, 23 in Region 8 or Eastern Visayas, 18 in Region 12, and 15 in the Cordillera Administrative Region.

DepEd officials did not disclose other details including the names of schools.

Earlier, the DepEd had allowed 182 private primary schools and 78 secondary schools in Metro Manila to increase their tuition this school year from six to 10 percent.

“This means that schools charging P50,000 a year will increase their tuition by P3,000 to P5,000,” a report said.

The DepEd said it approved petitions to increase fees on condition that 70 percent of the increase would go to teachers’ salaries while the remaining 30 percent would be for the improvement of school facilities.

The CHEd said it would publish the list of HEIs that were allowed to increase their fees on its website, http://www.ched.gov.ph/ this week.

It was not clear why the commission did not immediately release the list to the public when it had already decided on which school petitions to grant following months of review.