MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Higher Education (CHED), responding to student complaints on the rising cost of college education, is seriously considering restoring the “tuition cap” policy that was suspended early this year.

CHED executive director William Medrano said the cap was withdrawn on February 20 by then chairman Carlito Puno, allowing colleges and universities nationwide to increase tuition rates as long as they consulted students and parents’ groups.

Medrano told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net) that the current commission chaired by Romulo Neri has been discussing the possibility of restoring the cap.

Last week, militant students asked Neri to consider returning to the government’s tuition regulation policy.

Vencer Crisostomo, chair of the League of Filipino Students (LFS), told Neri that “luck is running out for the students and parents who cannot afford the ridiculously high cost of tertiary education.”

The LFS plans to “renew dialogues and conduct ‘pressure protests’ to push for the reimposition of the tuition cap in the light of recent price increases and other signs of economic hardship.”

“By January, a new round of tuition increase consultations will start in schools nationwide,” said Crisostomo, adding that “unless [Neri] acts on this matter quickly and reasonably, there will be no reason to expect peace and quiet as students are already gearing up for mass protests.”

On the other hand, Gonzalo Duque, president of the 160-member Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities (PACU), asked Neri to “address the spiraling costs of higher education all over the country.”

Both the PACU and the Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations (Cocopea) have asked CHED to look into the possibility of subsidizing private higher education institutions, “not just state universities and colleges.”

The tuition cap outlined in CHED memorandum no. 14 provided for a tuition increase limit based on the national inflation rate of about 6.2 percent.

“We denounce CHED’s cowardly capitulation to the demands of higher education institutions at the expense of the students,” Crisostomo said in a recent LFS statement which also called for a freeze in tuition fees.

“We find it illogical and highly irregular that the CHED suddenly decides to allow tuition increases of more than 12 percent after years of study on how to keep tuition at a minimum level,” the LFS said.

The change in policy “in effect lifted the regulation and consultation process covering miscellaneous and other school fees,” said Crisostomo.

“This is where most schools get their profit, imposing highly questionable fees aside from tuition which are most of the time bloated and unaccounted for,” Crisostomo added.

The LFS and two other student organizations have called for a Senate investigation of the CHED’s tuition policy.