UP Tacloban studes negative over tuition fee hike

By GEMMA TABAO (PIA 8)
February 14, 2007

TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte  –  Students and teachers of the University of the Philippines (UP) in the Visayas, Tacloban College, are distressed over the 300 percent tuition fee increase come school year 2007-2008.

In an interview with some of the students, they desperately revealed their apprehensions over the tuition fee hike as this may result to a slow turn-over of enrollees, considering that most of them come from families of middle to low income earners.

"We fear only a few will decide to enroll in this prestigious school even if they are entrance passers, as the tuition would be beyond their parents’ resource capacity." "Moreover, the increase would even result to students’ protest considering that it is a state university, yet the tuition would just be as high as a private one", they said.

The students also claimed that the tuition increase was decided by the UP board sometime in December last year, without consulting the students, and with this, an appeal has been filed with the UP Board of Regents (BOR) but in vain did it go.

Along this development, it was learned that Gabriela Party List Representative Liza Maza has urged the House of Representative to investigate this 300 percent increase, and even wanted that the implementation be suspended until after the hearing to be conducted by the House Committee on Higher and Technical Education shall be completed.

According to Maza, the board’s decision lacks transparency as the academic community never had the chance to discuss the significance of the committee reports on which the BOR based their decision.