87 schools set aside planned tuition hikes

Some 87 private colleges and universities nationwide have set aside their plans to increase tuition this coming school year for fear of losing their students, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) said yesterday.

This reduces to 365 the number of higher education institutions (HEIs) that actually hiked their tuition by an average of 12.35 percent, according to Dr. Ester Garcia, head of CHED.

There are 1,189 private HEIs in the country.

Garcia said the average hike in tuition has gone down in the past few years. "In previous years, the average increase was about 16 percent. Last year, it went down to 13.11 percent. This is so, maybe because school owners are considering the economic crisis in the country," she said.

Garcia said the 87 HEIs could have dropped their planned tuition hikes because they feared many of their students would not be able to enroll.

In Metro Manila, there were 106 HEIs which expressed intention last March to hike their tuition, but only 93 pushed through with their plans.

Garcia said fewer HEIs raised their tuition for school year 2001-2002. "Only 30.70 percent of schools have increased their tuition, compared to last year’s 36.9 percent," she said.

Five public HEIs have also increased their tuition.