31 private schools in Visayas hiking fees by up to 42%

CEBU CITY, Philippines—Parents in Central and Eastern Visayas will have to brace themselves for increases in tuition and other fees—some of them quite hefty—this coming school year, education officials said.

At least 26 elementary and secondary schools as well as pre-schools will raise their tuition and other fees by 4 to 42 percent, said Marcial Degamo, quality assurance and accountability division chief of the Central Visayas regional office of the Department of Education or DepEd-7.

More schools are still expected to submit applications for fee increases as the deadline for doing so is on May 15, Degamo said.

In Eastern Visayas, five private high schools will increase their tuition by 8  to 30 percent, Rhodora Sison, chief of quality assurance chief of DepEd’s Regional 8 office said on Friday.

Schools seeking increases in tuition and other fees have to submit letters of intent and the minutes and resolutions of Parents Teachers Association (PTA) meetings showing that the parents and the students were consulted and agreed with the  fee increases.

The schools are also required to submit documents proving compliance with a requirement that 70 percent of the previously approved tuition increases did go to the teachers in the form of salary increases, 20 percent for improvement of school facilities and 10 percent as return on investment for the schools.

Of the 26 schools increasing tuition in Central Visayas, St. Thomas Aquinas School, an elementary school based in Bulacao, Cebu City, is implementing a 17-percent increase in tuition (P13,500 to P15,916.67) and a 110-percent increase in other fees, such as laboratory and dental fees, from P5,000 to P10,535.

On the other hand, the St. Thomas Aquinas pre-school level will ask for 31.17 percent average increase in  tuition (from P13,500 to P14,000) and other fees (from P5,000 to P10,266.67).

Aside from St. Thomas Aquinas School, the schools that will increase their fees include Saint William Cooperative School in Catmon town, Cebu (28.46 percent), the Saceda Youth Lead School in Candau-ay town, Dumaguete City (27 percent) and the Divine Life Institute of Cebu. Inc. in Barangay Yati, Liloan town, Cebu (20 percent), among others.

In Eastern Visayas, five private high schools that will increases fees are Sto. Niño Academy (by 8.33 percent) in Malibog town; Christo Rey Regional High School (30 percent) in Saint Bernard town, both in Southern Leyte; Saint Michael Academy (8.33 percent) in Catarman, Northern Samar; Holy Cross Academy (8.33 percent) in Carigara and Holy Child Parish (15 percent) in Isabel, both in Leyte.

While more than 10 schools in the region sought fee increases, only five have received approval while the others still had to complete their documentation requirements, Sison said.

Sison said the schools with pending applications for tuition hike have until April 30 to re-submit their applications.