The proposed increase is scheduled to be discussed in the PUP Board of Regents meeting on March 29.

Chaser Soriano, Central Student Council President-elect said that they have long feared the imposition of a tuition fee hike since the establishment of the PUP College of Technology last year wherein incoming freshmen were charged P200 per unit.

“What the administration did was to test the waters by forming a new college. We sense a ‘pattern’ as they now plan to impose the new fee in the Colleges of Accountancy and Office Administration and Business Teacher Education.”

Soriano said that, if approved, the proposed fee hike will affect an estimated 50,000 incoming freshmen next semester.

“PUP is supposed to be the most accessible university with its P12 per unit tuition. What happens now to our poor students and high school graduates, wala na silang pupuntahan.”

Pascual said that the proposed tuition increase is a result of the yearly budget cut in state colleges and universities.  In the approved 2010 national budget, PUP budget was reduced by P43 million to only P661 million for the entire PUP System.

“This is the reason why the PUP administration is now being forced to get funds elsewhere, at the expense of students. It is also now resorting to commercialization by soliciting grants and businesses from private corporations. This is state abandonment of education, of our poor students.

The next president should prioritize in his or her agenda higher budget allocation for education,” Pascual said.

Meanwhile, 61 other schools in Luzon and Visayas will increase tuition to up to 20 percent by next semester according to data gathered by the National Union of Students of the Philippines and Kabataan Partylist. ###

References:

Donna Pascual, PUP Student Regent, 09239708549