No tuition hike for Bulacan State University since 2007

MALOLOS CITY, Philippines – The Bulacan State University (BulSU) may be the only state university in Central Luzon that has not increased tuition since 2007.

The university is able not to hike tuition in the last six years due to the subsidy provided by foreign students and to Republic Act 8292, or the Higher Education Modernization Act of 1997, which allowed it to implement income-generating projects.

“We don’t need to raise our tuition because we have enough money,” said BulSU president Mariano de Jesus.

When he was appointed president of the university in 2007, De Jesus vowed to exhaust all means to avoid any tuition hike.

“It’s all in the strategy, which was provided by RA 8292,” De Jesus said.

He cited the opening of BulSU’s international programs to students from Hong Kong, China, Macau, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, and Ethiopia.

Foreign students enrolled in the university’s international programs are taking post-graduate courses.

“For every student, say a Chinese or Taiwanese, we charge three times the fee paid by our local students,” he said. “This means, every foreign student subsidizes the tuition of two Filipino students.”

To generate additional income, De Jesus leased part of the campus, particularly the area fronting the MacArthur Highway, to commercial establishments.

He said the university is earning about a million pesos monthly from rental fees of these establishments that include a gas station, a mini mall, and a fast-food outlet. 

The earnings allowed the university to partly subsidize the students’ tuition, the instructors’ salaries, and the building of new facilities like a gymnasium, a hostel and additional classrooms.

The gymnasium and hostel also generate income, though not on a regular basis, when leased to organizations needing a venue for their events.

De Jesus though said the university is not spared from problems, foremost is how to reject students.

“We expect our enrollment to reach 37,000 this year and we are avoiding 40,000, otherwise the quality of education will suffer,” he said. The university’s enrolment last year was at 35,000.

BulSU maintains satellite campuses in the towns of Bustos, Hagonoy, and Bulakan, and in the City of San Jose del Monte.