Only 2 of 97 schools in Eastern Visayas allowed to hike tuition

TACLOBAN CITY—Only two of 97 private colleges and universities in Eastern Visayas were allowed to increase tuition for school year 2012-2013.

Liberty Garcia, Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) regional director, said the commission had approved the increase in tuition of  Bato Institute of Science and Technology (BIST) in Bato town, Leyte province, and Samar College (SC) in Catbalogan City, Samar province.

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

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, sought to increase tuition, Garcia said.

These schools, however, were not allowed to increase tuition because of their failure to hold consultations with student groups, a requirement for tuition increases.

CHEd Memorandum Order No. 3, which was issued this year, set a Feb. 28 deadline for consultations to be completed for petitions for tuition increases to be entertained.

Garcia said BIST and SC were the only schools that complied with the consultation requirement and were able to satisfy the other requirements.

These requirements include the allocation of 70 percent of tuition increase for salaries and benefits of faculty members and the remaining 30 percent for the improvement of laboratories and equipment of the school.

She said CHEd was enforcing the requirements strictly.