Public colleges to freeze tuition hikes?

Voltaire Tupaz

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But CHED says a tuition increase is unavoidable in private higher education institutions

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges (PASUC) is urging publicly funded higher educational institutions to impose a one-year moratorium on tuition hikes.

“We feel that it’s not a good time to increase tuition fees,” PASUC president Dr Ricardo Rotoras told Rappler.

The advisory council of the association recommended the tuition freeze in a meeting on Friday, April 5.

“We are enjoining all the SUCs [to comply], including those that have already approved tuition fee increases in the previous months to be implemented this June,” Rotoras said.

PASUC will disseminate the resolution to all 111 state colleges and universities under its wing on Saturday, April 6, Rotoras added.

‘Persuasive effect’

Rotoras admitted that the association cannot compel its members to uphold the resolution as they have their respective governing boards.

Counting on what he called the “persuasive effect” of the resolution, Rotoras expected SUCs will implement the decision of the 20-member council composed of national officials and regional chairpersons of the association.

Rotoras recalled that in the past, SUCs honored at least two decisions of the association to freeze tuition hikes.

He also stressed that the decision was made in support of the request of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) chairperson Dr Patricia Licuanan.

Licuanan earlier announced she is recommending a national moratorium on tuition hikes in all SUCs, following the suicide of a University of the Philippines (UP) student perceived to have killed herself because of her failure to pay tuition on time.

The tragedy that sparked public discussion on the accessibility of higher education in the country was among the factors PASUC considered, Rotora said.

He added that a moratorium on tuition hikes will also ease the burden of victims of calamities that recently hit the country.

SUCs to generate own income

As a result of the proposed moratorium, PASUC will ask the government to increase the allocation of public higher educational institutions in the 2014 budget, Rotora said.

But CHED noted that SUCs have the capacity to generate income, CHED executive director Julito Vitriolo told Rappler.

But in an earlier interview with Rappler, Rotora said, “It’s not good to give that responsibility to SUCs alone to generate their own income. If you don’t have assets, you will be left to generate your own income, you have no other choice but to increase your tuition fee.”

Vitriolo suggested that SUCs streamline their operations, stop opening unnecessary programs, and use their funds more efficiently.

CHED’s Roadmap for Public Higher Education Reform (RPHER) expects 22 leading SUCs to shoulder 50% of their budget by 2016.

‘Toothless’ tuition regulation

Meanwhile, CHED could not guarantee whether the moratorium could be extended to privately-owned colleges and universities.

Hindi maiiwasan, every year ‘yan. Meron silang karapatan under the law (It’s unavoidable, it happens every year. They have the right under the law),” Vitriolo told Rappler.

Over 400 higher education institutions expressed their intent to increase tuition and other fees for the upcoming school year as of April 1, the deadline set by CHED Memorandum Order No 3, series of 2012.

Vitriolo said CHED is in the process of evaluating the applications, adding that the list of institutions which will qualify for the raising of tuition will be announced in the first week of May.

Kabataan Partylist Rep Raymond Palatino called for a “strong tuition regulation law” that would give CHED “muscle and teeth” to control tuition and other fees in over 2,000 higher education institutions nationwide.

“The government’s current tuition regulation policy – CHED Memorandum Order 3 – is a toothless paper tiger. While the said policy lays down guidelines for proper consultations regarding fee increases, CHED has no proper mechanism to monitor compliance,” Palatino claimed. Rappler.com

 

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