By SAMMY JULIAN
Manila News Bureau Chief
MANILA – If one cannot afford tuition fees in private schools, state universities and colleges are alternatives.
Presidential Communications Operations Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. issued this advice amid public complaints against tuition fee increases in several educational institutions.
State universities and colleges adhere, too, to a rigid standard of “excellence” imposed by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Coloma stressed.
Coloma noted that private education institutions are governed by the country’s tuition fee law. At least 70 percent of the increase must be allocated for compensation and benefits of faculty and administrative personnel
“We must determine the justification and if this complies with the law on improving the compensation of teachers,” he said.
Coloma acknowledged that the quality of education is commensurate to the quality of the faculty. “Some faculty members are master’s degree holders or PhD. They also have the right to ask for salary increases,” he said.
The Department of Education has reportedly approved the tuition fee increases of 244 private elementary and high schools across the country.
At least 353 colleges and universities in Metro Manila and other regions earlier sought an increase in tuition and other fees for school year 2014 to 2015. The letters of intent to raise tuition fees have already been submitted to CHED./PN
