Universities, colleges reminded vs expensive graduation rites

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) urged state universities and colleges (SUCs) and private higher education institutions (HEIs) to avoid expensive graduation ceremonies to spare graduates and their parents from unnecessary expenses.

Dr. William Medrano, CHED executive director, said the commission reminded schools to hold simple graduation rites in low-cost venues and avoid imposing special attires that entail the purchase of expensive clothes.

“We urged them to avoid unnecessary extravagance to spare the students and their parents from avoidable expenses,” Medrano said.

Medrano said the reminder was contained in a memorandum order issued to all schools last week.

Based on its records, CHED said more than 400,000 students are set to graduate from college and post-graduate studies this March.

For school year 2007-2008, CHED said some 2.5 million students are enrolled in all year levels of SUCs and HEIs all over the country.

The Department of Education (DepEd) has also issued a similar reminder to all public schools to hold simple graduation ceremonies this March, away from partisan politics.

DepEd said they expect about 1.7 million students to graduate from public elementary schools and 140,000 from private schools.

For high school, they look forward to 1 million graduates from public schools and 300,000 from private institutions. – Rainier Allan Ronda