REFUND OF SCHOOL TUITION
I am urging the Commission on Higher Education to order nearly 400 schools nationwide to immediately refund their students for charging them illegal exorbitant fees this school year.
CHED must also scrap its Memorandum Order No. 14 which was the basis for some 395 universities and colleges to increase tuition and other fees for school year 2006-2007.
CHED through a commission en banc resolution issued on May 8, 2006 have already directed these schools to refund the students, subalit ang naturang kautusan ay pumapaloob lamang sa pagbabalik-bayad sa matrikula at iba pang mga bayarin na lumagpas sa national inflation rate na 7.6 percent. Dapat ibalik lahat ang mga bayarin na itinaas ngayong taon dahil labag sa batas ang mga pagtaas sapagkat walang mga naganap na mga konsultasyon.
CHED Memorandum Order No. 14 allows schools to increase tuition and other school fees this year even without any consultation with students and other stakeholders provided the rate increase does not exceed the inflation rate of 7.6 percent.
Subalit sumasalungat ang memorandum sa probisyon ng Republic Act 6728 na nag-uutos na dapat magkaroon ng konsultasyon sa mga grupo ng mga mag-aaral, alumni at mga guro kung may planong magtaas ng matrikula. Lumagpas man o hindi sa national inflation rate ang porsiyento ng pagtaas, labag pa rin ito sa batas dahil walang mga naganap na konsultasyon.
In a joint committee meeting by the House Committee on Higher and Technical Education and Committee on Basic Education and Culture last September, it was estimated that some 140 school have assured CHED to adhere to en banc resolution issued lat May on school fee refund but this only covers the rate increase higher than the 7.6-percent inflation rate.
CHED must issue another memorandum order requiring schools which increased school fees this school year to refund the students even the increase did not exceed the prevailing inflation rate of 7.6 percent.
Records of the Kabataan Party show that most of universities and colleges still failed to comply in refunding the students this second semester. In fact some school have continued increasing tuition and other fees without any consultation.
February 8th, 2007 at 2:13 am
If this pushes through, it will greatly help our students in continuing their studies with more financial resources to aid them in improving a research-intensive mode of education.
Quality education is synonymous to being financially sound. Only when we provide students with adequate learning materials can they truly meet the ever growing competition locally and globally.