UP President Emerlinda R. Roman
When I assumed my post as UP president, I announced, as part of my ten-point plan, the review of our existing undergraduate tuition policy and structure. Even then, I acknowledged that it would be a “tough decision,” and determined that it would involve studying how financial responsibility could be shared among our different stakeholders. (University of the Philippines Plan, 2005-2011)
Shortly after that, I created a committee for this purpose, headed by Dr. Emmanuel De Dios of the UP Diliman School of Economics. The committee has completed its work and submitted its report. Copies of the complete report have been distributed to all CUs. A primer, containing a simple summary of the report’s most important points, has also been widely distributed.
I also created another committee, headed by Professor Edgardo Atanacio of the UP Diliman College of Engineering, to propose a restructuring of the Socialized Tuition and Financial Assistance Program (STFAP), based on the De Dios Report. This committee has also submitted its final report, and copies have been sent to the chancellors, the Faculty Regent, the Student Regent and the Alumni Regent.
As expected, some students are opposed to the proposed tuition adjustments. Had there been no opposition at all, we would have been surprised, even perhaps disappointed. What would UP be like without debates? However, because public statements have been made which—deliberately or unconsciously—contain distortions of the facts, I wish to take this opportunity to clarify the issue.
This proposed tuition adjustment is the first since 1989. Under the proposed adjustment, the cost per unit in UP Diliman, UP Manila and UP Los Baños will be P1,000. In UP Baguio, UP Visayas and UP Mindanao, it will be P600.
The reason for the proposed adjustment is inflation. The P300 per unit which UP students are paying today is worth only P98 today. If we were to take the actual rate of increase of prices for educational services in particular, it is worth even less—P42. As pointed out by Professor Solita Monsod, “this means that the UP student on the average is being subsidized for about 80% of the cost of instruction. (PDI, 18 November)
Miscellaneous fees will also be adjusted to reflect rising costs, from around P600 to P2000 for UPD, UPM and UPLB; from P595 to P1405 for UPB and UPV; and from P830 to P1,640 for UP Mindanao.
One very important detail which protesting students often ignore is that the new fees will affect only new students, i.e., freshmen and transferees, who will enter UP in 2007. Moreover, only students belonging to the highest income bracket—Bracket A (over P1 million a year)—will pay the full rate (the base tuition of P1,000 per unit x 1.5). In fact, students eligible for assistance under the UP Socialized Tuition and Financial Assistance Program (STFAP) will enjoy larger benefits.
Students in Bracket E (annual income of P80,000 or less) will pay no tuition at all, and will receive a stipend of P12,000 per semester. Students in Bracket D (annual income from P80,001 to P135,000) will enjoy a 70% discount, which means they will pay P300 per unit, the existing rate. Students in Bracket C (annual income from P135,001 to P500,000) will pay P600 per unit. Only those in Bracket B (annual income of P500,001 to P1 million) will pay P1,000 per unit.
It should be noted that this bracketing is different from the old one, so to claim, as UPD student council chair Juan Paulo Alfonso does, that under the old bracketing, 3 out of 9 income groupings are given full subsidy, whereas under the new one, only one will get it, is an oversimplification.
For example, under the existing STFAP, ownership of a cell phone automatically places the student in Bracket 9. Under the proposed STFAP, a cell phone will be considered just an addition to the number of phones a family has. It is families with swimming pools, private security services, international credit cards, and personally-financed travels which will be assigned to Bracket A.
Additionally, the adjusted fees remain significantly lower than the true cost of an undergraduate UP education, not to mention the cost of an undergraduate education in other comparable universities in the country.
Finally, alongside the tuition adjustment and the revised STFAP, we intend to: (1) strengthen the student loan program; (2) increase the number of student assistance posts; and (3) campaign for more scholarship grants from the government, the private sector, and the alumni.
Mr. Alfonso, has been quoted as saying that it is wrong to use students as a “source of income” for the university. “They tell us that it’s not the government’s role to subsidize tertiary education, but we believe otherwise.” (PDI, 24 November). During the congress of student councils held in Davao, which I personally attended, Mr. Alfonso declared that the difference between the students’ position and that of the UP administration was “philosophical.” In other words, their position is that tertiary education should be entirely subsidized. But, as Professor Randy David has observed, while basic education is indeed a right, enshrined in the Constitution, tertiary education is not. (PDI, 26 November)
In any case, we have never suggested that state subsidies for education should be removed. What we have done is recognize they are diminishing, not just nationally, but globally. Nonetheless, UP students coming from families up to the 97th percentile of the national income distribution (maximum annual family income of P500,000) shall continue to enjoy a tuition subsidy even under the restructured STFAP.
Nor have we any intentions of forgetting about the need to get a larger budget from government. Our position is simply that while waiting for this miracle to take place, we cannot simply stand our ground and do nothing.
Even while the two committees were conducting their studies, we were working on a three-pronged program to improve the University’s finances: (1) the UP Centennial Fund Campaign, designed to build up our financial endowment; (2) the aggressive campaign in Congress and the Senate, to secure exemption from the Salary Standardization Law for the UP faculty, and additional funding for UP programs and projects; and (3) the negotiations with Ayala Land, Inc. for the development of the UP North Science and Technology Park along Commonwealth Avenue.
I might add that we have been successful in obtaining P500 million from the supplemental budget for the National Science Complex, through the good offices of Congressman Luis Villafuerte and Senator Franklin Drilon; and that we have signed the Memorandum of Agreement with ALI for the S&T Park. Governments all over the world have recognized the all-important link between scientific expertise and economic development, and universities have set up S&T Parks adjacent to their campuses. The S&T Park, which will soon rise on our campus, is not only an important part of our efforts to address the University’s financial needs, but fits right in with our vision of UP as being at par with the leading research universities around the world.
It is to be hoped that the sectors that are now loudly objecting to our proposed adjustment of student fees, and insisting that we find more “creative” ways of compensating for our budgetary constraints, will not be as vociferous in objecting to our efforts to become more financially independent by developing our idle assets. Or, at the very least, that they will first examine the Q&A on the S&T Park prepared by the Office of the Vice President for Development, and published in the UP Newsletter, October and November issues, and also available on line.
Atty. Gari Tiongco, president of the UP Alumni Association, and also a member of the UP Board of Regents, has endorsed the tuition adjustment. So have the faculty members of some of the colleges in UP Diliman. I hope other members of the UP community will at least study the proposal carefully, before proclaiming their opposition to it.
In the meantime, we in administration must continue to do our jobs and run the University as best we can under the circumstances.----------
from the UP Website
