Valentine: A Heartless Month for Tuition Payers
February, known
traditionally as the month of the hearts, is turning out as the saddest
month for the Filipino youth. Reason: impending tuition hikes in both
public and private schools.
By Noel Godinez
Northern Dispatch
Posted by Bulatlat
BAGUIO CITY –
February, known traditionally as the month of the hearts, is turning out
as the saddest month for the Filipino youth. Reason: impending tuition
hikes in both public and private schools.
Speaking in a forum
here this week, Rizza Ramirez, president of the National Union of Students
of the Philippines (NUSP), said that 370 out of 1,231 private higher
educational institutions (HEIs) have signified their intention to increase
tuition for school year 2005-2006.
Ramirez said that
since 1999 to 2004, fees have increased by 64.16 percent with an average
of P32.74 per unit.
Ironically, the
government aims to further decrease its spending on education. The budget
of the Department of Education (DepEd) for the current fiscal year is
expected to be slashed by P4.6 billion; state universities and colleges
will operate with P950 million less of its 2004 budget of P16.67 billion.
The premier state
university, the University of the Philippines (UP) which has around 40,000
students in different campuses around the country, will suffer the biggest
budget cut in its almost century-old operations with a P355.64 million
slice in its budget, Ramirez said.
Added to this, the
Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) with 50,000 students
belonging to the “poorest of the poor” will have P33.57 million less for
2005. The students are facing a P88 increase per unit, from P12 to P100.
Effects of
UP’s budget cut
Ramirez said that the
budget cut in the UP system will have drastic effects as the decrease is
roughly the operating budget of UP Manila, one of the six units of UP
system, and “is tantamount to the closure of one unit.”
“The budget cut
threatens the closure of courses (degrees) and programs offered in UP,”
Ramirez said. “Furthermore, the budget cut compels state universities and colleges (SUCs)
to increase tuition, come up with income generating projects, sell
intellectual property rights, among others to augment the meager
allocation for SUCs.”
To augment its meager
budget, the university has increased fees in graduate courses; laboratory
fees from P50 to P600 in specific colleges (departments); and imposed
exorbitant fees like late registration fee and change of matriculation
fee.
After 13 years of
implementation of the Socialized Tuition and Financial Assistance Program
(STFAP), tuition in UP increased from P17 to P300 per unit with 83.6
percent of the students ending up paying full tuition. With this scheme,
the university has generated P340.767 million in 2003 and P341.226 million
in 2004.
A primer from the
Office of the Student Regent-University of the Philippines and the
Katipunan ng mga Mag-aaral sa UP (KASAMA sa UP) reveals proposals to
increase laboratory fees in UP’s units in Diliman, Manila and Mindanao.
At the College of Mass Communications
in UP Diliman, there are plans to increase laboratory fees in Film
subjects from P100 to P400, but in one particular subject the increase is
P2,000. In UP Manila, the dental laboratory fee is seen to increase from
P2,500 to P11,000.
Also, cellphone
charging fee, computer fee, and radio fee are now collected from the
students staying in UP dormitories even in the absence of the approval of
the Board of Regents (BOR). The BOR is the policy-making body of the
entire UP system.
With all the fees
being collected, Ramirez concluded that “The Iskolar ng Bayan has now
become a paying scholar.”
Gov’t
negligence and mispriority
Ramirez attributed
the continuous decline of the country’s quality of education to the
negligence and misprioritization of the government. In particular, she
cited the failure of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to enforce
its phase-out order to 115 health education institutions (HEIs) who had a
5 percent or lower passing rate in the licensure examinations from 1997 to
2000. Out of 115 HEIs, only 15 have complied.
Furthermore, she also
cited the failure of CHED to stop the operations of schools running
without government permit.
With CHED’s
negligence, Ramirez advised students to ensure that the courses or
programs as well as the schools are accredited by the government before
enrolling so as not to waste money, time and effort. Graduating in these
schools and courses will not ensure jobs simply because the schools are
not accredited, she added.
Lastly, she also
cited the government’s misprioritizing in its budget allocation with debt
servicing eating up 47 percent of the national budget or roughly P359.87
billion while the education’s budget has consistently been decreasing.
With the rising cost
of education in private schools, students look forward to enrolling at the
state-run universities and colleges, but with the budget cut, these SUCs
have no other recourse but to also increase tuition to compensate for its
meager budget. This means higher cost of education in public schools.
“The rising cost of
education even in SUCs drive many Filipino students out of schools. Does
this government envision a bleak future with uneducated youth?” she
warned. NORDIS / Bulatlat
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