At least 22 million Filipinos are right now preparing to go back to

school or start school for the school year 2009-2010 - which means
cash out for tuition and other fees, books and other educational
materials, not to mention clothing and transportation expenditures.
And while tuition is free in public elementary and high schools,
average expenditures for the rest of the items are in the order of
P15,000 - P20,000 per year.
Now, for tertiary education, tuition alone averages P437 per unit for
the country as a whole, with tuition in Metro Manila almost double
that - P855 per unit, which translates to tuition averaging P16,000 to
P30,000 per year, although annual tuition can go as high as
P125,000 a year.
Little wonder then that the higher the level of education, the larger
the number of dropouts.
According to the latest Philippine Human Development Report, out
of 1000 children who enter grade 1, by grade 2 some 140 will have
dropped out, and by grade 4 another 100 will have dropped out.
Out of these 760 children who reach grade 4, only 670 will make it
to grade 6, and only 650 children will actually complete the full
elementary cycle of six years.
But the story does not end there.