New UP tuition system in 2014

PASCUAL

The University of the Philippines (UP) has adopted a new socialized tuition system which officials said would shorten the application process and make the premier state university more accessible to students from low-income families.

The Socialized Tuition System (STS) classifies students based on income brackets that have been adjusted for inflation but with the same tuition rates. It also increases the allowances for those in the lowest bracket.

In a statement, UP President Alfredo Pascual said the new scheme would replace the Socialized Tuition and Financial Assistance Program (STFAP), which was established in 1989.

The STS was approved by the UP Board of Regents, the university’s highest decision-making body, in a meeting on Nov. 28.

Pascual said the new scheme would be implemented starting next semester and apply to incoming freshmen for Academic Year 2014-2015. He said he initiated the reform of the tuition scheme upon assuming office in 2011.

The old socialized tuition scheme has been criticized for its long application process, the frequent mismatch between the students’ assigned brackets and their actual financial standing, and the inadequate benefits allotted for students in the lowest income bracket.

The changes introduced by the STS include a simpler basis for assigning tuition brackets, inflation adjustments, an increase in the monthly stipend for the poorest students, and a streamlined appeals process.

Application now online

The STS application form, for example, covers only two pages, whereas the STFAP form has 14. The new application process, which sometimes took up to 10 months in the past, will be done online for faster results.

The new scheme also uses only two indicators to determine the bracket assignments of students in need of assistance: the declared household income and the system used by the Marketing and Opinion Research Society of the Philippines in classifying households in the country.

Another change is the upward adjustment of the income cutoffs for brackets A, B, C and D. For example, the income cutoff for bracket A, the top grouping, was P1 million and higher under the STFAP.  The STS has adjusted it to P1,300,001 and higher.

For bracket B, the cutoff is now from P650,001 to P1.3 million under the STS; for bracket C, P325,001 to P650,000, and for bracket D, P135,001 to P325,000.

The income cutoffs for brackets E1 and E2, the lowest brackets, remain at P80,001 to P135,000, and P80,000 and lower, respectively.

“The new income range of the tuition brackets is adjusted upward by 30 percent to address the drift toward upper brackets, as income rises due to inflation,” Pascual explained, noting that the adjustment would lower the tuition bracket assignment of many students.

The tuition rates will remain the same under the STS, he added.

The new scheme also increased the monthly allowance for bracket E2 students from P2,400 to P3,500 a month for 10 months a year.

The STS is expected to cost UP at least P300 million in reduced tuition income and additional stipend payments, Pascual said.