10 to 15 percent tuition hike excessive, says lawmaker

MANILA, Philippines - The 10 to 15 percent annual increase in tuition fees in many private colleges and universities is excessive, Pasig City Rep. Roman Romulo said yesterday.

“Based on the 10 to 15 percent yearly upward adjustment in tuition fees, the cost of a college education has been rising three to five times faster than the prices of most goods and services. We find this rather exorbitant,” he said.

“If we look at the annual inflation rate, it has averaged only 4.82 percent over the last five years. In 2012 alone, the inflation rate stood at just 3.2 percent, and in the first four months of 2013, at an even lower three percent,” he said.

He added that since inflation rate refers to the increase in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy, schools should try to keep their tuition fee adjustment closer to the inflation rate.

“That would be more acceptable, and they can still stay financially viable,” he said.

He pointed out that the 10 to 15 percent annual tuition fee increment means that the cost of college education would be doubling every five to seven years.

Romulo is author of a House-approved bill seeking to enable the country to churn out more college graduates via a bold new student loan program.

Under the proposed program, a student may obtain a low-cost bank loan to pay for his tuition fee. The money may also be used to pay for miscellaneous school fees, books, food, and other necessities.

The loan would have an effective interest rate pegged to the 91-day Treasury bill rate, which last stood at 0.217 percent, or around one-fifth of one percent.

The bank may apply an add-on 3-5 percent annual interest rate. However, instead of the borrower paying for the extra interest expense, the bank may claim it as tax credit, which it can use to pay for its tax obligations.

“We have to produce more college graduates at a quicker rate if we want our human resources to become even more competitive in the labor markets here and abroad,” Romulo said.

Full college scholarships

Meanwhile, re-elected Sen. Loren Legarda yesterday said she would do everything to fulfill a promise she made during the campaign – to pursue a bill that would provide full college scholarships to at least one child in each of the poorest families in the country.

Legarda calls it the proposed Pantawid tuition program, a spin-off of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps of the administration.

The 4Ps or the conditional cash transfer program involves the grant of cash to the poorest families around the country on a monthly basis in exchange for the fulfillment of certain responsibilities.

Among the conditions set under the 4Ps are the attendance of the children in school and the vaccination of infants.

Under Legarda’s proposed Pantawid tuition program, every effort would be made to ensure that at least one child of each 4Ps beneficiary family would finish college.

Legarda said the graduate would be able to help his or her family get out of poverty by securing a decent job and helping out the siblings in getting a good education.

“My goal is for each Filipino family to have at least one diploma, especially those under the 4Ps,” Legarda said.

She said she would try to address the backlog of classrooms in the country, which now stands at 50,921.

“President Aquino has already signed the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013, which would upgrade the quality of our education system through a 12-year basic education program. In line with this, we must also aim to address problems related to physical infrastructure such as classrooms,” she said.

From 2010-2012, Legarda allocated a total of P146 million for the construction of 291 classrooms and school buildings in various parts of the country. – With Marvin Sy