Education
Santiago: Colleges should be accountable for miscellaneous fees
Senator Miriam Santiago (Photo from Santiago’s official website)
MANILA – After the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) allowed 313 colleges and universities in the country to increase tuition and other fees, Senator Miriam Santiago demanded that these schools be accountable for the granted increase.
Santiago emphasized that the additional fees collected should be allocated and used properly. The senator called on the CHEd as the agency responsible for monitoring and ensuring this.
“The Ched has issued guidelines for the use of funds derived from tuition increases, but we need to know how they ensure compliance with these rules,” she said in an official statement released.
Based on CHEd’s policies, schools were ordered to allot 70 percent proceeds of tuition hike to faculty and staff’s salary increase, the other 20 percent to facility improvements, and only the remaining 10 percent to be set aside as profit.
“The CHEd’s approach to the issue of tuition is holistic,” CHEd Chair Patricia Licuanan said in a statement.
Santiago approved CHEd’s guidelines but worried that it may be abused.
“A school can always say that it increased the faculty’s wages, renovated a building, or bought new computers, but how does it support such claims?” she asked.
Santiago then suggested that schools be required to submit clear allocation and expenditure breakdowns with documents as evidences. She also suggested that CHEd conduct surprise inspections.
“Making education more accessible to the public should be a priority, right up there, if not taking precedence over, the fight against corruption,” she said. “Corrupt politicians are threatened by an educated public.”
Earlier this month, CHEd approved 313 colleges and universities’ requests for tuition and miscellaneous fees increase for the coming academic year. In average, tuition fee increased by P29.86 per unit and other fees increased by P135.60.
