CHED says 339 colleges, universities hiked tuition

MANILA, Philippines - Despite appeals by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) not to increase their tuition, 339 colleges and universities went on with their fee hikes for academic year 2010-2011.

Lawyer Julito Vitriolo, CHED executive director, said the higher educational institutions (HEIs) had undergone the commissions requirements to raise tuition.

In an interview with GMAs Unang Hirit yesterday, Vitriolo said 390 schools originally applied to raise their fees, but only 339 were approved by CHED.

CHED chairman Emmanuel Angeles had earlier issued an appeal to HEIs to forgo their tuition hike because of difficult times.

CHED records showed there were 43 other schools allowed to increase their fees on different levels 15 HEIs would increase their tuition for first year and new students; 27 would raise other fees; and one school would hike tuition in its medicine, law, and graduate school programs.

Of the 339 HEIs implementing tuition hikes on all levels, 337 are private schools, while two are public schools.

In an interview with The STAR yesterday, Angeles explained that only less than 20 percent of schools are raising their tuition out of 1,781 colleges and universities in the country.

Opening of classes in colleges peaceful

Meanwhile, the opening of classes yesterday in the college level was generally peaceful.

The National Capital Regional Police Office (NCRPO) said not a single report of untoward incident was received when colleges and universities opened.

This is a good start. We expect to maintain the prevailing peace and order situation up to the opening of classes for public schools on June 15, said NCRPO chief Director Roberto Rosales.

Rosales placed last Sunday the 16,000-strong police force in Metro Manila on heightened alert and directed his five police districts to conduct massive raids to flush out criminals.

He also intensified the servicing of arrest and search warrants to haul criminals to jail before the start of all classes next Tuesday.