Tuition Cap Will Regularize Yearly Hikes, NUSP Says

If the average tuition rate increase of 12 percent continues for the next five years, the national average per unit would reach P590.20 by 2010 from the present P334.89 per unit. By then tuition would have increased by as high as 1,257.41 percent since 1990.

By Carl Marc Ramota
Bulatlat

Students give satirical ribbon awards to President Arroyo and colleges that increased tuition

The vicious cycle of tuition hikes continues. In the Commission on Higher Education's (CHEd) partial report released recently, 203 schools or 15.37 percent of 1,321 higher education institutions applied for an increase in tuition this year. Last school year, 381 out of 1,321 colleges and universities or 29 percent applied for tuition increase. The national average increase is 11.37 percent with P33.15 peso equivalent or P334.89 per unit. The average tuition in the National Capital Region (NCR) is pegged at P614.54 posting a 10.83 percent increase compared to 2003 figures. But strong opposition and growing public opinion have finally pushed CHEd to act on skyrocketing tuition hikes. CHEd is proposing a tuition cap based on the country's prevailing inflation rate to regulate tuition increases.

In this proposal, higher education institutions may increase tuition without undergoing the consultation process if the proposed tuition hike will not exceed the inflation rate. Only tuition increase applications exceeding the current inflation rate will have to go through the consultations. At present, the country's inflation rate is pegged at 8.4 percent.

However, the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP), an alliance of tertiary student councils/governments, believes the CHEd move is not enough.

NUSP National President Rizza Ramirez over the weekend said a tuition cap will not address the rising cost of education. She expressed fears over plans to place a ceiling on tuition hikes, saying the proposal virtually gives school owners a free hand in increasing tuition every year without any intervention from the Commission.

"Instead of regulating tuition hikes which have remained unfettered for the last two decades, CHEd's proposal would only legitimize unjust tuition increases," Ramirez said.

Illegal tuition hikes

Ramirez said CHEd's proposal brings back President Marcos' Presidential Decree 451 or the Tuition Fee Law of 1974 which authorized the then Ministry of Education Culture and Sports (MECS) to regularize the imposition of tuition and other fees. It set the tuition increase ceiling to 15 percent every school year. The law was replaced by Education Act of 1982 which authorized government's tuition deregulation policy until today.

"Such proposal is vulnerable to school owners' abuse, especially with a CHEd that can be easily dictated by private school owners associations," she pointed out.

The NUSP president also expressed dismay over CHEd's failure to regulate tuition and other fees.  "For the past years, we have been filing complaints over violations on the consultation process but the CHEd has never heeded out demand," she said.

Ramirez said tuition hikes are imposed despite student protest. She cited the case of the University of the East in Recto and Caloocan campuses.  "Despite a deadlock in the consultations, the UE administration has invented an arbitration process to enforce a tuition hike,” she said. “This process can never be found in the CHEd memorandum
on the conduct of consultations for tuition increases."

Based on the memo, the CHEd Regional Office shall resolve any deadlock in consultations.

Non-compliance to the incremental proceeds

Meanwhile, the NUSP also revealed that most schools do not comply with the 70-20-10 incremental proceeds.  The law states that 70 percent of tuition hike must be allocated for the increase in salary of teachers and employees, 20 percent for improvement of facilities and 10 percent as return of investment.

The Philippine Education Sector Study in 1998 revealed that the salary of teachers in public schools is 70 percent higher than those in private schools.  In the last five years, several faculty unions went on strike due to deadlock in Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

In 2003, nine top earning schools had a combined profit amounting to P1.13 billion. Ramirez asked, "How does CHEd explain the inclusion of big private schools in the country's top 1,000 corporations?"

"Clearly, the relentless hikes in tuition and other fees have earned private school owners millions of profits over the last two decades. This largely explains why most business tycoons like Lucio Tan and the Yuchengcos are now venturing into tertiary education," she said.

Private schools frequently listed among the top corporations in the country in terms of profit are Centro Escolar University, Mapua Institute of Teachnology, Far Eastern University, University of the East, Philippine Maritime Institute, Technological Institute of the Philippines (TIP), AMA Computer University and STI College.

Low quality

Tuition hikes do not usually translate to quality education, Ramirez said however. "While school owners say that quality education is expensive, students have always been shortchanged."

In 1995, the Task Force on Higher Education even said, "College education in the Philippines is comparable to top science high schools in the country and regular secondary education in Europe and Japan." This comment is reflected by the pathetic results of annual licensure examinations.

In the list of most popular programs, according to CHEd, are Teacher Education, Accountancy, Criminology, Marine Transportation and Electronic and Communications Engineering (ECE). However, records of the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) show that only a fraction among the thousands who flock to these courses are able to attain their dream professional career.

The national passing average for these courses and for most programs offered in the Philippines has not even reached 50 percent. From 1997 to 2001, the passing rate for Accountancy was only 18.40 percent; Criminology was better with 47.60 percent; and ECE was the highest so far with 48.20 percent.

In the 2003 licensure exams, Accountancy remained the lowest at 19 percent. Teacher Education, both in basic and secondary level, had only a 26 percent passing rate.

So mediocre were the results that in the same year, CHEd ordered the phasing out of 115 higher private institutions that had a five percent or lower passing rate in the licensure exams. Of these, only 17 schools have followed the order.

From 1997 – 2001, the average passing rate in Accountancy is only 18.40 percent.  The results of other licensure examinations do not reach 50 percent.   In the same period, 35 schools obtained a zero passing rate in Accountancy, 28 in BSC/ BSBA Accounting and three in BS Nutrition and Dietetics.  In 2003, the

No tuition increase in SUCs

Joining the hype, President Arroyo announced Wednesday a moratorium on proposed tuition hikes in state universities and colleges (SUCs) this year.

But Ramirez said Malacanang's statement is deceitful. "If President Arroyo can issue an order prohibiting SUCs to increase tuition, why can't she do the same with private schools? If she is really sincere in addressing the rising cost of tertiary education in the country, then she should declare a moratorium on tuition hikes this June which includes all higher education institutions," she said

She pointed out that the moratorium should not just cover tuition increases but miscellaneous fees as well. "Schools are foregoing tuition increases but they have been jacking up miscellaneous fees which are mostly questionable," she explained.

Deregulation Policy

A study made by Anak ng Bayan youth party on the rising cost of tertiary education
showed that tuition has swelled by a whopping 670 percent since 1990, based on CHEd's data and reports made by pre-need firms such as the College Assurance Plan. Furthermore, tuition was steadily increasing by an average of almost 12 percent for the last five years.

Anak ng Bayan projects that if the average tuition rate increase of 12 percent continues for the next five years, the national average per unit would reach P590.20 by 2010 from the present P334.89 per unit. By then tuition would have increased by as high as 1,257.41 percent since 1990. Bulatlat

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