SLU students in Baguio City protest looming tuition hike
Students of Saint Louis University (SLU) in Baguio City hold a protest rally outside their campus on Monday, April 24, 2023, to oppose the impending 9-percent increase in tuition and other school fees. (Photo by Jethro Bryan Andrada)
BAGUIO CITY — Students of Saint Louis University (SLU) on Monday staged a rally at the main gate of their Bonifacio campus here to oppose the looming 9-percent increase in tuition and other school fees (TOFI) that the administration is eyeing to impose for the academic year 2023-2024.
The tuition increase, one of the highest in recent years, is set to be implemented among freshmen in SLU’s undergraduate, graduate, law, and medicine programs.
Gabrielle Francisco, president of the SLU KASAMA Supreme Student Council (SSC), asserted that the 9 percent TOFI is “unjust.”
“Magsisilbi itong dagdag pahirap sa mga kabataan at mag-aaral ng SLU (It will serve as an additional burden to the students of SLU),” Francisco said.
Francisco also expressed concern about an SLU memorandum announcing that there would be “no increase” in the tuition of students who are in their second to fifth year at the university, as she said that the increase was instead funneled to their other fees, effectively making TOFI applicable to all SLU students.
A dialogue between KASAMA SSC and the administration was also held on Monday afternoon, along with another silent protest on campus grounds.
Gabrielle Francisco, president of the Saint Louis University Kasama Supreme Student Council in Baguio City, leads the protest against the looming 9-percent increase in tuition and other school fees outside their campus on Monday, April 24, 2023. (Photo by Jethro Bryan Andrada)
Francisco also said if the SSC is unsuccessful in preventing the administration from increasing tuition, they were still hoping for a moratorium or transparency from the university.
“Sana magkaroon man lang ng transparency and disclosure report para we know where it [increased funds in TOFI] is allocated (“We hope that there can be at least a transparency and disclosure report so that we know where it [increased funds in TOFI] is allocated),” Francisco added.
JETHRO BRYAN ANDRADA AND JUSTINE RHYS LAWRENCE MARTIREZ (CONTRIBUTORS)
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