FIRST-YEAR students will shoulder a five-percent tuition increase next academic year.
Under the final schedule of fees released by the Office of the Vice Rector for Finance, the tuition for freshmen will be up five percent, or P81 per lecture unit, and P162 per laboratory unit.
From last year’s P1,611 per lecture unit and P3,222 per laboratory unit, the tuition of freshmen will go up to P 1,692 and P3,384, respectively.
Civil Law tuition for freshmen will increase by P135 per unit.
Grade 11 students’ tuition will increase by P1,696 while miscellaneous fees will increase by 2.16 percent, or an additional P83.
Incoming UST Junior High School freshmen will have an increase of P3,775 while their miscellaneous fees will go up by 1.44 percent or P77.
Tuition of Grade 7 students of the Education High School will increase by P887 while miscellaneous fees will increase by 1.43 per cent or P56.
Student Accounts Supervisor Agripina Corpuz said 70 percent of the increase would be allocated to the salaries of faculty members while 30 percent would be utilized for the improvement of the University’s facilities.
“We want to have quality education. We also need to augment the salaries of faculty [members],” Corpuz told the Varsitarian in an interview.
The basis of the allocation of tuition increases is Republic Act 6728 or the Expanded Government Assistance to Students and Teacher in Private Education Act.
Corpuz said inflation was also a basis for the tuition hike. Inflation, or the increase in the prices of goods and services, hit 5.2 percent in 2018, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.
Memorandum Order 19 of the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) allows the University, as an autonomous higher education institution, to increase tuition even without the Commission’s permission, provided that the University informs the CHEd Central Office of the increase before the start of the academic year.
Francis Gabriel Santos, outgoing president of the UST Central Student Council, said the council plans to have a meeting with UST Rector Fr. Herminio Dagohoy, O.P. to discuss the tuition hike as soon as he returns from an overseas trip.
The University hiked its tuition by 6 percent or by P1,611 for first-year students this academic year. M. A. de Jemel and N. J. N. Servallos
