Wednesday, May 28, 2008 Arroyo orders refund of collected additional tuition
SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Tuesday ordered all state universities and colleges (SUCs) that imposed and collected additional tuition and school fees for the current school semester to either refund or credit them as incremental payment for the next semester.
Arroyo, during the joint National Economic Development Authority-National Anti-Poverty Commission Cabinet meeting at the Capitol building here, also urged private higher education institutions (HEIs) that implemented and already collected fee increases to do the same.
Commission on Higher Education (Ched) Commissioner Nona Ricafort said the government is also asking for a one-week extension on the enrollment in all colleges and universities in the country to accommodate students who were initially unable to enroll due to the fee increases.
Ricafort said the government's order to freeze any tuition increases in SUCs, which stemmed from a directive of the President in a bid to prevent additional burden on the public, still stand while the same appeal is still being sent out to the private HEIs.
The said directives stemmed from the recommendations of Ched chairman Romulo Neri.
The Ched commissioner acknowledged that the government's call for a moratorium on tuition increase came a little bit late as some schools have already completed enrollment, while in some schools, enrollment is still on going. She said classes are expected to start at the tertiary level on June 3.
She said aside from being an additional burden, a tuition increase may result in the decrease of student enrollees in schools.
Ricafort, however, said the government understands the need off schools to increase their fees to accommodate the salary increases sought by the faculty and non-academic staff of colleges and universities and improve on school facilities.
She reminded private institutions that of the collected tuition and school fees, only 70 percent should go to salary increases, 20 percent to improvement of facilities and only 10 percent as a return of investment. (JMR/Sunnex)
