UP’s new tuition scheme to cost P300 M

MANILA, Philippines - The University of the Philippines (UP) will lose some P300 million in reduced tuition income and additional stipend payments once it starts implementing its new Socialized Tuition System (STS) in 2014.

UP vice president for public affair Prospero de Vera said yesterday that the estimated fiscal cost is based on reforms in the tuition bracketing system and the increase in the stipend given to those belonging to the lowest bracket.

“We have to find money somewhere,” said De Vera when asked how the university intends to address the effect of STS, which would replace the old Socialized Tuition and Financial Assistance Program (STFAP) established in 1989.

The systems set the tuition that UP students would pay based on their socio-economic condition.

De Vera maintained that the university can manage the cost of the new tuition scheme, even as he noted that the fiscal effect may have been higher than P300 million because of the possible influx of students applying for the bracketing scheme.

“There are a lot of students who are not applying for STFAP (because of the long process), so it is possible that there are many students who should not be paying tuition are paying tuition (now). Maybe the impact is even bigger,” he said.

In a statement, UP president Alfredo Pascual said the changes in the tuition scheme are part of his administration’s “commitment to make sure that no qualified student will be denied a UP education on account of financial need.”

The new scheme was approved last week by the UP Board of Regents (BOR), the university’s highest policy making body.

Among the changes was the upward adjustment of income ranges by 30 percent “to address the drift towards upper brackets as income rises due to inflation.”

For instance, students will only be classified to the highest bracket (A) if their declared income is above P1.3 million. This is higher than STFAP’s P1 million and above income classification for the said bracket.

Students classified in the said bracket pay P1500 per unit in UP Diliman, Manila, and Los Baños and P1,000 per unit in other UP units.

Following are the changes in the income cut-offs in other brackets:

• Bracket B: P500,001 to P1,000,000 will become P650,001 to P1,300,000

• Bracket C: P250,001 to P500,000 will become P325,001 to P650,000

• Bracket D: P135,001 to P250,000 will become P135,001 to P325,000

No changes were made in the cut-offs for Brackets E1 (P80,001 to P135,000) and E2 (P80,000 and below).

Tuition for those classified in Bracket B is set at P1000 or P600, depending on the UP unit; while those classified in Bracket C will have to pay P600 or P400 per unit. Tuition in Bracket D is set at P300 or P200 per unit, while students in Bracket E1 will enjoy free tuition.

Another change in the system is that those classified in Bracket E2 will get higher monthly stipend, from the current P2,400 to P3,500.