Freeze tuition hike
THE BBM-Sara UniTeam on Wednesday urged the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to defer the tuition fee increase it recently approved for 56 Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) for the academic year 2021-2022 amid the ongoing coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Presidential aspirant Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos, Jr. and his running mate, Davao City Mayor Inday Sara Duterte of the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD), appealed for the suspension of the impending increase as this would negatively impact the financial situation of many Filipino families.
“We are appealing to CHED to consider suspending the scheduled increase. There are still a lot of families struggling even at this juncture of the pandemic. Allowing the hike in tuition and miscellaneous fees will be an added burden on families whose finances have not yet fully recovered. This may even lead them to stop sending their kids to school altogether,” the UniTeam said.
The team was reacting to a CHED memorandum dated December 6, 2021, stating among others that 56 private HEIs were given the go-ahead to increase their tuition and other school fees.
CHED has already released the said memo to its officials, regional offices, and presidents of private universities and colleges all over the country.
CHED Chairperson J. Prospero De Vera III said the approval for the increase was in line with CHED’s guidelines on the recalibration of Miscellaneous and Other School Fees (MOSF).
The current list was also based on the report of fifteen CHED Regional Offices (CHEDROs) and a Commission en Banc Resolution dated November 9, 2021.
“We understand that private education institutions also need to generate revenues to sustain their operation. However, we still need to consider the capacity of a student’s family to pay the added fees. Let’s consider the situation of those who are hard-pressed due to the pandemic,” the UniTeam added.
The CHED’s list also showed 14 HEIs from the National Capital Region (NCR) were allowed to increase their tuition and other school fees.
A breakdown of the CHED list showed the number of HEIs per region; Region 1 – (eight HEIs), Region III -(seven HEIs), Region IV – (three HEIs), Region V (five HEIs), Region VI (four HEIs), Region VII (one HEI), Region IX (one HEI), Region X (nine HEIs), Region XI (three HEIs), and CAR (one HEI).
