University of the Philippines Oblation statue at UP Diliman in Quezon City.
INQUIRER PHOTO / EDWIN BACASMAS
The chancellor of the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman clarified on Thursday an earlier pronouncement suspending tuition collection for the first semester of school year 2017-2018.
“There has been news going around that UP Diliman will no longer collect tuition fees this school year. I need to clarify that this is a misinterpretation of our decision to suspend collection of any kind of fee during the ongoing pre-registration for the 1st semester, 2017-2018,” Chancellor Michael Tan said in a statement.
READ: UP Diliman suspends collection of tuition
Tan said the suspension of tuition collection is not unique to UP Diliman, citing other state universities and colleges (SUCs) that did the same given the tuition subsidy scheme by the Commission on Higher Education (Ched).
“Under this scheme, undergraduate students will be prioritized by need and extended subsidies from a fund which for UP is P183 million for the semester. This fund will not be sufficient to cover all students, and is limited to tuition fees alone, meaning even the poorest students will still have to pay miscellaneous fees,” Tan said.
The government allotted P8 billion for the Ched scheme.
Tan added that UP Diliman is complying with Ched guidelines and is currently calling on the students to avail of the subsidy, requiring documentation mainly income tax returns.
Tan further said that while most SUCs only had the Ched scheme during their registration, UP Diliman had a different case with a later registration and start of classes.
“In addition to the Ched scheme, we now have a bill on universal access to tertiary education that has passed a bicameral committee. This bill is more extensive, covering tuition and miscellaneous fees,” Tan said.
“We support the calls for the passage of the universal access to tertiary education bill and the provision of adequate funds to implement whatever subsidies there will be,” he added.
On Tuesday night, Tan announced the suspension of tuition collection for undergraduate students pending a clear plan on the government’s no-tuition policy. Rogelio Nato, Jr., INQUIRER.net trainee / JPV