UST proposes 5-8 percent tuition hike

Feb. 19, 2015, 1:11 p.m. – THE UNIVERSITY administration
is proposing a five to eight-percent increase in tuition per unit for academic
year 2015-2016.

Under the proposed schedule of fees, the increases amount to
P67 per unit for first-year students, P100 per unit for second-year students,
P101 per unit for third-year students, and P64 per unit for fourth- and
fifth-year students.

The Vice Rector for Finance and Central Student Council
officers will discuss the proposal on Feb. 20, Friday.

Last academic year, tuition increased by 2.5 percent or
P31.23 per unit for second- to fifth-year students. Tuition increased by 3.5
and three percent in 2012 and 2011, respectively.

Under Section 42 of Batas Pambansa Blg. 232 or
the Education Act of 1982, “Each private school shall
determine its rate of tuition and other school fees or charges… subject
to rules and regulations promulgated…”

By law, 70 percent of the increases must go to the payment
of salaries, wages, allowances and other benefits of teaching and non-teaching
personnel; and 20 percent for the improvement or modernization of buildings,
equipment, libraries, laboratories, and similar facilities, and the payment for
other operational costs.

The remaining 10 percent represents return on investments
for higher education institutions if they are stock corporations. Otherwise, it
must be used for operations.

The Commission on Higher Education uses
inflation, or the rate of increase in prices of consumer goods and services as
measured by the consumer price index, as a guide for regulating tuition hikes. Inflation averaged 4.1 percent in 2014, data from the
Philippine Statistics Authority showed. R. A. Vergara, Jr.