GMA More than 300 private colleges and universities nationwide will increase their tuition this coming

school year by about 8 percent, a report on GMA News' 24 Oras said Tuesday. According to the report, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has approved the application of 343 private colleges and universities for tuition increases. Out of 451 application, 343 institutions across the country ang eligible o pwedeng mag-increase ng kanilang tuition o school fees, said CHED executive director Julito Vitriolo in the report. Lumalabas na ang average increase sa taon na ito [is] about 8.3 percent. Translated to peso [it's] less than P40 per unit, he added. For the school year 2012-2013, CHED allowed 222 colleges and universities to increase their tuition with an average of 10 percent, or about P41.52 per unit. According to the television report, most of the private colleges and universities that will increase their tuition are in Metro Manila and in Region IV A (Calabarzon). Meanwhile, the report noted that state colleges and universities are not subjected to tuition increases. Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines At least 903 private elementary and high schools and 354 private colleges and universities were allowed to increase their tuition and other school fees this coming school year. The Department of Education (DepEd) has approved the application of 903 private schools, representing six per cent of the 15,429 private elementary and high schools in the country. DepEd is still evaluating the applications of 70 other schools even as it turned down those of 92 schools that were not able to justify their plan to raise fees. The Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) also approved the increase in tuition and school fees this year in 354 private colleges and universities, representing 21 per cent of the 1,683 higher education institutions (HEIs) in the country excluding those in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). The five-member Commission granted on Monday the application of 354 out of the 451 private HEIs that wanted to increase their tuition and other school fees this year. CHEd said that on the average, tuition would increase by P37.45 per unit or by 8.5 per cent, the lowest percentage increase in the last 10 years.

The national average increase in school fees is P194.62 or by 7.58 per cent, according to CHEd. Most of the schools that have raised their tuition are in Metro Manila where private schools are concentrated. Out of the 2,363 private elementary and high schools in Metro Manila, 260 schools were allowed to raise their tuition while 25 others are still waiting for DepEds decision. The regions with the most number of private elementary and high schools that raised tuition are Central Luzon (Region III) with 227, Western Visayas (Region VI) with 110 and Calabarzon (Region IV-A) with 86. The rest are in Region I with 69 schools; Region IV-B, 32; Region V, 63; Region VIII, 23; Region XII, 18; and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) with 15. Out of the 308 private colleges and universities in Metro Manila, 95 wanted to increase their fees but 72 schools were cleared to raise tuition by an average of 6.79 per cent or P64.04 per unit. The other regions with the most number of private HEIs that raised their fees are Calabarzon where 52 schools raised their tuition by 7.86 per cent or P48.81 per unit; and in Central Luzon where 37 raised their tuition by 8.86 per cent or P44.48 per unit. The highest percentage increases were in Cagayan Valley (Region II) at 12.25 per cent or at P31.26 per unit; Bicol (Region V) at 11.83 per cent or P44.77 per unit and in Ilocos (Region I) at 11.12 per cent or by P34.10 per unit. The government requires private schools that want to increase their tuition to allocate 70 per cent of the incremental increase for personnel salaries, 20 per cent for improvement of facilities and 10 per cent for return on investment.

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Youth leaders urge SC to stop tuition hike

By Tetch Torres-Tupas INQUIRER.net 3:29 pm | Wednesday, May 29th, 2013 3 107 62 MANILA, Philippines -Youth leaders on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to stop the recently approved tuition increases in 354 universities and colleges.

In a 46-page petition, the youth leaders said the Commission on Higher Education violated their right to accessible and quality education. They said CHED failed to perform its duties to take the necessary steps to make education accessible to all. Petitioners said the high court should declare as unconstitutional Memorandum Order No. 32012 as well as Section 42 of the Batas Pambansa no. 232. Section 42 of the Education Act of 1982 allows private schools to determine its rate of tuition and other school fees or other charges while the Memorandum Order is the basis for the approval of the new fees. Petitioners include Kabataan Partylist through counsel James Mark Terry Ridon, National Union of the Students of the Philippines, College Editors Guild of the Philippines, League of Filipino Students, Anakbayan, Student Christian Movement and the Kabataan para sa tunay na kalayaan. Under the memorandum order, there is no provision on the exercise of regulatory powers of CHED to determine the rate of tuition and other school fees. They said the order also does not provide for regulation and supervision with respect to increase in tuition and other school fees for incoming freshmen students. This failure to include within the ambit of regulation and supervision the determination of its rates of tuition and other school fees is nothing but an unconstitutional surrender of the duty of the State to reasonably regulate and supervise all educational institutions, petitioners said. The acts of respondents, if not immediately restrained or enjoined will cause grave and irreparable injury to petitionersThe threat of inaccessibility of education resulting in the dropping out of the petitioners and thousands more from school must never be allowed by this Honorable Court, they added. Aside from CHED, respondents include University of the East (Caloocan), University of Santo Tomas and Adamson University3 of the 354 higher educational institutions proposing tuition hike.

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