Arroyo Stops Tuition Hike in State Colleges

Statement of the President, 26 May 2008

The non-stop increase in oil prices and the unprecedented food price shock now roiling the world are adversely affecting household incomes and forcing families to cut back on spending, if not do away altogether with certain necessities.

At an average of P450 per unit, parents are spending about P10,000 for their children with 21-unit loads in college, an expense that eats up a sizeable amount of the hard-earned income of ordinary Filipinos. Hence, any adjustment in school fees is an added burden most of them can ill afford during these belt-tightening times.

For us to keep producing highly-skilled graduates who will lead our country in its leap to First-World status in a decade’s time, Government must reverse the drop-out rate and set off an environment conducive to our parents to provide quality tertiary education for their children, be it in private institution or in our state universities and colleges.

With this in mind, I am directing the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to put off any increase in tuition fees for state universities and colleges this coming schoolyear 2008-2009. I am also directing the CHED to communicate my appeal to private higher education institutions to reconsider and freeze plans to increase tuition fees and other fees this schoolyear. The last thing that our parents need at this point to keep their children striving for college diplomas is another round of adjustment in tuition fees and other school expenses.

The CHED should do an extensive study on the extent of compliance of past tuition fee increases with what the law provides for such adjustments, which is for school administrators to set aside 70% of the new fees for salaries and other benefits of their faculty and non-academic personnel and 20% for modernizing their facilities.

Although government cannot deny private business the fruits of its legitimate investments, especially in lofty causes such as higher learning, it must nonetheless balance this interest with that of the rest of our people who regard college education the lasting legacy to future generations.

Moreover, this move is in keeping with the Constitutional mandate for the State to protect and promote the right of its citizens to quality education for all from the primary to tertiary levels.

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