Cebu City, Philippines—Several Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Central Visayas have already expressed their intention to implement an increase in their tuition fees for the coming academic year 2020-2021.
Melissa Castillote, the education supervisor and coordinator on the Tuition and Scholarship Program from the Commission on Higher Education in Central Visayas (CHED-7), said that as of the moment, she cannot divulge yet the total number of schools who submitted their intent for tuition fee increase since they still need to submit some requirements and documents.
Castillote revealed that last February 28, 2020 was the deadline set for universities and colleges to conduct a consultation with different stakeholders such as students, teachers, parents, and the school’s management.
Meanwhile, the deadline set for the submission of documentary requirements is on April 1, 2020.
She also clarified that the increased amount that will be collected by the schools should be based on the Regional Inflation Rate (RIR) in Central Visayas.
Castillote said that based on the report from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the inflation rate for the school year 2020-2021 in the region is at 3.2 percent.
“This is the kind of percentage that they should follow or maybe this is the barometer for the school as to the reasonableness for the increase in the tuition and other school fees that they are applying,” Castillote said.
Dr. Josefino Ronquillo, supervising education program specialist of CHED-7, also said that the increase that schools have applied for should benefit their teachers’ wages and school facilities.
“There must be a justification to that effect because following also the CHED memorandum, 70, 20 and 10. 70 percent will go to the salary and benefits of the employees, 20 percent for the schools improvement and only 10 percent will go to the school as an ROI (return of investment),” Ronquillo said.
Last year, around 21 schools implemented tuition fee hike out of 185 universities and colleges in Central Visayas. / bmjo