CHED slammed for tuition hike

A militant youth group chided the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) yesterday for allowing private schools to raise their tuition rates by as much as 7.6 percent, saying this clearly contradicts the agency’s earlier appeal for a freeze on such increases this school year.

As school opening approaches, the Kabataan Sectoral Party said more colleges have applied for a tuition hike.

"To top it all, applying for an increase is now made easier by CHED Memorandum Order (CMO) No. 14 which removed student consultations on tuition hikes that are below or equivalent to the inflation rate," Kabataan vice president Carl Marc Ramota said in a statement.

"CHED and Malacañang’s earlier stance about a tuition increase freeze this year is turning out to be mainly for public consumption," Ramota noted.

He also belied the statement of CHED Chairman Dr. Carlito Puno during an earlier radio interview that 80 percent of the proceeds from tuition increases go to school employees.

According to Ramota, most schools do not comply with the 70-20-10 incremental proceeds stipulated in CHED’s guidelines on tuition hikes.

He said the law states that 70 percent of the tuition hike must be allocated for the increase in salaries of teachers and employees; 20 percent for the improvement of facilities; and 10 percent as return on investment.

Ramota cited the Philippine Education Sector Study in 1998 that revealed the salaries of teachers in public schools was 70 percent higher than in private schools.

In the last five years, several private school faculty unions went on strike due to deadlocks in collective bargaining agreements.

Ramota alleged that some of the schools are raking in millions in profits every year through yearly tuition hikes and by imposing exorbitant school fees.

In 2003, nine top-earning schools had a combined profit amounting to P1.13 billion, he added.

"How does CHED explain the inclusion of big private schools in the country’s top 1,000 corporations?" Ramota asked. "Clearly, the relentless hikes in tuition and other fees have earned private school owners millions of profits over the last two decades," he pointed out.

Among the private schools frequently listed among the top corporations in the country in terms of profit are Centro Escolar University, Mapua Institute of Technology, Far Eastern University, University of the East, Philippine Maritime Institute, Technological Institute of the Philippines, AMA Computer University and STI College.

Ramota also challenged Puno’s claim that there are no tuition increases in state schools other than the University of the Philippines College of Medicine.

"Puno forgot to mention that there are state universities and colleges (SUCs) in Bicol, Panay and other parts of the country that are implementing a ladderized tuition hike. He also failed to include in his statements that many state schools are actually charging exorbitant processing fees which are even higher than the basic tuition," he said. — Sandy Araneta