CHEd to decide Monday on tuition hike petitions of 451 schools

Photo courtesy of CHEd

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) will formally decide on Monday, May 27, whether to approve the application of 344 private colleges and universities to increase their tuition and other fees this school year.

The various CHEd regional offices have already forwarded their recommendation to the five-member Commission.

Initial reports that came out of the CHED said that of the 451 applications, the regional offices have approved the petitions of 344 and denied those of 107 that were not able to justify their plan to increase fees.

“That’s not yet official. We still have to meet en banc. But over 400 schools applied for tuition increase,” CHEd Chairperson Patricia Licuanan said in a news conference Wednesday during the CHEd anniversary celebration.

She would not say how many applications were endorsed to the CHED.

Classes will resume in June and most students have already enrolled by now.

No public colleges and universities will increase their tuition this school year.

Licuanan said it was understandable that private schools would eventually increase their student fees to keep the school running.

“What we try to do is keep the increase at a single digit, always aligned to the inflation rate, and it should not be on a regular basis. But they do have the right to increase fees, she said.

Under guidelines issued in 2012, CHEd had insisted that school administrators hold a public consultation with their stakeholders to explain the basis of their tuition increases.

The lack of public consultation would be a ground to deny the application.

Licuanan said they were expecting the consultation to be a “genuine dialogue.”

“But whether they should all agree, no; a consultation can be held but there are issues you will never have final agreement on,” she said.