Solon seeks 3-year tuition freeze

MANILA, Philippines—The Kabataan party-list group on Thursday sought a three-year freeze on tuition and other fees, citing Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) data that indicated that school fees had doubled in the last 10 years.

“The tuition and other fee increases in the last 10 years are questionable because they did not go primarily to the improvement of the students’ welfare and teachers’ salaries,” said Kabataan Rep. Raymond Palatino.

CHEd has approved tuition and other fee increases for 282 colleges and universities for school year 2011-12.

Palatino said a viable solution to the “unjust” increases would be the enactment of House Bill 3708, or the Three-Year Tuition Moratorium Act, and HB 4286, or the Tuition and Other Fees Regulation Act, both of which he has filed.

“The wisdom of these two measures resides in the fact that they aim to ultimately redirect our education system which has become so grossly commercialized, generating a huge number of out-of-school youth unable to meet the high cost of education,” he said.

Anakpawis party-list Rep. Rafael Mariano, meanwhile, urged Malacañang not to allow the latest tuition hike.

“How can poor families send their children to school when their daily sustenance is not even enough to buy food?” Mariano said.

CHEd said 69 private colleges and universities in Metro Manila are expected to hike their tuition this year, with St. Luke’s College of Medicine eyeing a 12-percent raise.

The University of the East-College of Medicine, Ateneo de Manila University, Ateneo Graduate School of Business, Miriam College, Assumption College and OB Montessori will raise their tuition by five percent, while the University of Santo Tomas, De La Salle University and UE-Manila will have increases of 3.75 percent, 3.5 percent and 4.35 percent, respectively.

The Department of Education (DepEd), meanwhile, on Thursday reiterated its “no collection” policy in all public schools.

Tuition is free in all 45,000 public elementary and high schools nationwide.