http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/regions/view_article.php?article_id=141561

College students urge: Freeze our tuition, too

By Jerome Aning
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 04:34am (Mla time) 06/09/2008

MANILA, Philippines—A militant student group on Sunday asked why private colleges were not covered by the tuition moratorium announced by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The League of Filipino Students said tuition in private tertiary learning institutions should be regulated by the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) and the government.

LFS national chair Vencer Crisostomo said there were more private than public college students. He cited 2004 government data that showed there were only 424 public colleges against 1,363 private ones.

“And the private schools are the ones more notorious in increasing their tuition unjustly precisely because government refuses to regulate tuition,” he said.

The Constitution, he pointed out, pins on the state the responsibility of ensuring quality and accessible education.

He also said CHEd had the power to regulate tuition as provided for in the Charter.

Crisostomo said, “The government should be held responsible for betraying the Constitution and letting tertiary education fall into the hands of vultures.”

According to CHEd data, 378 private tertiary schools increased tuition this year at a nationwide average of 10 percent.

LFS wants tuition increases suspended and investigated with an eye toward rolling back the rates if schools are proven to have abused their discretion to raise fees.

Crisostomo said there was no reason to allow tuition increases in private schools as most of them were raking in hundreds of millions in profits from their collection of “unjust” fees.