Only 2 of 97 tertiary schools in Eastern Visayas approved for tuition hike

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines—Only two of the 97 private colleges and universities in Eastern Visayas will increase their tuition fees for school year 2012-2013.

Liberty Garcia, Commission on Higher Education regional director, said the commission has approved the tuition increase requests of Bato Institute of Science and Technology in Bato town, Leyte and the Samar College in Catbalogan City, Samar.

Garcia said BIST would increase its tuition by 8 percent, from P196 per unit to P212 while SC would increase its tuition by 9.8 percent, from P263 per unit to P289.

In the last school year, BIST had a student population of more than 570 while SC had 2,272 students.

Aside from BIST and SC, other private colleges and universities in the region, including three government-run colleges, also sought a tuition increase, Garcia said.

She explained that these schools failed to conduct the mandatory consultation among their respective student organizations.

The CHEd Memorandum Order No. 3, which was issued this year, mandates that the consultation period must be completed not later than February 28 of the academic year preceding the school year for which the intended increases were supposed to take effect.

Garcia said BIST and SC complied with the consultation requirement and were able to satisfy the other requirements. These include the allocation of the 70 percent of the proposed increase for salaries and benefits of the faculty and the remaining 30 percent for the improvement of laboratories and equipment of the school.

She said the needed requirements have to be followed strictly before CHEd allows the schools to impose the tuition increase, which is a “sensitive” an issue.