947 private schools allowed to hike tuition

Only seven percent or 947 of 14,430 private schools nationwide were allowed to implement a tuition increase, the Department of Education (DepEd) said.

Ninety-two percent or 13,266 other private schools did not increase tuition rates, while 1 percent or 114 others decreased tuition rates.

DepEd data also showed that the average school fee for SY 2018-2019 is R22,792.14.

Tuition and other fees in private schools range from R13, 786.71 to R64, 913.34.

The DepEd data covers all regions except the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

In the breakdown, DepEd data showed Region III has the most number of schools with approved tuition increase at 172, followed by National Capital Region (170) and Central Visayaa (169).

DepEd added that no private school will implement tuition increase in Western Visayas and the Zamboanga Peninsula Western Mindanao.

In an earlier interview with the Manila Bulletin, DepEd Undersecretary for Planning and Field Operations Jesus Mateo said that the tuition increase is only possible “if there is a consultation made with the parents and students.

“If they agree with the increase of tuition, 70 % should go to teachers’ salaries, 20 percent for improvement facilities and 10% for others,” he explained.

Schools, Mateo said, are also required to submit a financial audit.

“If for example, last year they increased tuition, they need to show a document which proves that indeed, they 70% went to the salaries of teachers,” he added.

Mateo was referring to Republic Act 6728 or the Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education law, which stipulates that private schools are “required to allocate 70 percent of the tuition increases for payment of salaries, wages, allowances and other benefits of teaching and non-teaching personnel” while the remaining 20 percent should be “allotted to the improvement of facilities or modernization of buildings” and the 10 percent may be used for “return of investment (ROI)” or used for the operation of the institution.

In the tertiary level, no final list of higher education institutions (HEIs) that will implement tuition hike has been released by the Commission on Higher Education, more than two weeks after it announced that 248 private universities and colleges have applied for tuition and other fees increase for academic year 2018-2019.

Commission on Higher Education Officer-in-Charge Prospero De Vera III noted that the number might increase once data from the Southern Tagalog regions are consolidated. The number may also decrease, De Vera said, depending on the decision of Commission en Banc.

The total number of private HEIs, excluding ARMM, is 1,652.