Tuition freeze order out

Around 3.7 million students are expected to benefit from a no-tuition hike policy adopted by the Commission on Higher Education for the school year 2009-2010, according to Chairman Emmanuel Angeles.

Last Feb. 5, Angeles issued a memorandum calling on 1,726 colleges and universities in private and public sectors to freeze tuition and other fees to help Filipinos cope with the adverse effects of the global financial crisis.

“This is our way of helping the Filipino families ride out the crisis,” Angeles said.

But the Angeles memorandum is more of an appeal to private institutions since they are now operating under a deregulated atmosphere, according to Ines Basaen, programs officer of the Catholic Educators Association of the Philippines.

Private colleges and universities can raise tuition provide that 70 percent of the proposed increase goes to teachers’ salary, Basaen said.

So far, none of the CEAP members have announced plans to increase tuition this school year, Basaen said.

The Catholic educators’ group president Msgr. Gerardo Santos has made an appeal to member-institutions to hold off any tuition increase this year, Basaen said.

The Angeles memorandum could apply to state-run colleges and universities, according to sources.

There are 203 government-run higher schools of learning nationwide: eight state universities and colleges; 12 local universities; and four colleges.

Of the private-run schools, 244 colleges and 32 universities are based in the National Capital Region.

The tuition per unit in government-run colleges and universities ranges from P90 to P325 for a baccalaureate degree; P200 to P500 for a masteral degree; and P300 to 600 for doctorate degree.

In Metro Manila, the Polytechnic University of the Philippines still has the lowest with P12 per unit for a baccalaureate degree; P100 for masteral and P100 for doctorate. The University of the Philippines charges P500 per unit of a baccalaureate degree, and P1,000 per unit for masteral and doctorate degrees.

The tuition in private higher education institutions varies from P500 to 3,000 per unit for a baccalaureate degree.–Gigi Muñoz David, Manila Standard Today