EDITORIAL – Out of reach

Schools need funds for operations, and schools need a lot of funds to offer quality education. For operators of private schools, providing education is a business, and like any business enterprise, a school must turn a pro-fit. Most private schools in this country have bigger budgets than public schools. Private schools can afford to attract the most qualified teachers, offer state-of-the-art facilities and provide the best education. Except for a handful of state colleges and universities, quality education can be obtained only in private schools. Filipinos are aware of this and save up for children’s education in private schools.

The way tuition rates are going up, however, quality education is soaring beyond the reach of a growing number of Filipinos. Apart from basic tuition, many schools are collecting miscellaneous fees that sometimes approximate the amount of the tuition itself. Even some public schools have learned to collect such miscellaneous fees from impoverished students.

The other day the Commission on Higher Education put its foot down, imposing a cap on increases in tuition and miscellaneous fees in private colleges and universities. CHED officials do not want increases to go beyond the inflation rate. Yesterday Malacañang ordered a similar rate cap on state-run higher educational institutions.

This is surely welcome news for the public. Now the government must make sure the cap is implemented. The government lacks personnel for most functions in the provision of education. Some school operators learned to collect miscellaneous fees precisely to go around limits on tuition increases. Growing complaints from parents and students alerted education officials to the problem. If the government lacks personnel to enforce the cap on fee increases, it should provide a mechanism through which complaints can be filed quickly by parents and students. If miscellaneous fees cannot be eradicated, the government must meet with educators to standardize the types of fees that can be collected. School operators should welcome these moves and cooperate. In these hard times, unless they are operating the best schools, they could price themselves out of the market.