The Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) said it would welcome a ruling from the Supreme Court on the extent of government regulation over tuition increases in private schools.
Militant groups’ going to the high court to stop tuition hikes in 354 private colleges and universities should settle the issue of what the legal basis is for private schools to increase their fees, said CHEd Chair Patricia Licuanan.
“It will settle a lot of issues. They seem to question the legality, the legal basis for schools to raise tuition. I would be happy that it will be settled once and for all,” Licuanan said yesterday.
She said that CHEd, the agency that oversees higher education institutions (HEIs) in the country, tries to strike a balance between ensuring access to higher education and the right of private schools to raise fees to sustain operations.
“From our end we have always recognized that it is their (the schools’) right. The law allows them to do that, we cannot stop them as long as they do these consultations,” she said.
“But if the Supreme Court says ‘no, it’s illegal’ or ‘you can stop them,’ then that settles things for us,” she said.
CHEd had approved the application for increases in tuition and school fees of 354 private colleges and universities, out of the 451 schools that asked for them.
This represents 21 percent of the 1,683 higher education institutions in the country, excluding those in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
CHEd said that, on average, the tuition will increase by P37.45 per unit, or 8.5 percent, while other school fees will increase by P194.62, or 7.58 percent.
Section 42 of Batas Pambansa 232, or the Education Act of 1982, provides that “each private school shall determine its rate of tuition and other school fees or charges … subject to rules and regulations” promulgated by the government agencies concerned, in the case of CHEd, for higher education institutions.
CHEd regulations on tuition hikes are spelled out in two memorandum orders, issued in 1998 and 2012, which require HEIs to allocate 70 percent of the incremental increase in tuition to salaries of school personnel, 20 percent to facilities improvement and operations and 10 percent for profit, if the school is a stock corporation.
The CHEd also requires schools to hold a public consultation to justify the fee increases.
In a petition filed last Wednesday, the Kabataan party-list and the National Union of Students of the Philippines asked the high court to issue a temporary restraining order against the latest round of tuition increases.
They questioned the constitutionality of the two CHEd memorandums covering tuition hikes, claiming “both law and regulation do not constitute reasonable regulation and supervision of all educational institutions as required by the 1987 Constitution.”