CHEd Approves Tuition Fee Increase for 313 Institutions

The Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) has approved the application of 313 private colleges and universities to raise tuition and other school fees.

CHEd chairwoman Patricia Licuanan in a statement released Tuesday said the Commission has approved tuition fee increase with an average of P29.86, while average increase in other school fees was P135.60.

The Commission, however, did not release the list of 313 schools with approved fee increases. A total of 405 institutions have applied for tuition fee increase.

Licuanan added that none of the four educational institutions in Eastern Visayas were granted to increase their fees. The region suffered tremendous damages in the wake of supertyphoon Haiyan in 2013.

The CHEd chair said her agency considered a number of factors before approving the applications to raise tuition fees such as regional inflation rate, the school’s financial standing and financial capability of students.

Another factor that was weighed in the decision was CHEd’s Memorandum Order No. 3, or the “Enhanced Policies, Guidelines and Procedures Governing Increases in Tuition and Other School Fees, Introduction of New Fees, and for Other Purposes,” which states that 70% of the fee increase should go to faculty development and cover benefits of teaching and non-teaching personnel. Another 20% of the proceeds should go to the improvement of school facilities and the remaining 10% of the increase goes to the institution’s profit.

CHEd has allocated over P1.5 billion for 123,882 recipients of student financial assistance program, three times the number of slots alloted last school year. Another P2.5 billion in financial assistance to more than 40,000 public tertiary students under the Expanded Student Grants-in-Aid Program for Poverty Alleviation, Licuanan said.