Lavoxa archive photo (A. Bautista)
The student government (SG) met today with the class mayors and student leaders to communicate details of the tuition fee consultation with school administrators held yesterday, Jan. 29.
In the said meeting, SG president Christine Perez bared De La Salle Lipa’s (DLSL) proposal for a tuition and fees hike of up to 10 percent for certain degree programs for the school year 2019 – 2020.
The proposed 10 percent increase is comprised of a five percent inflationary increase for all programs and a five percent compensatory increase for the programs of AB Communication, BS Biology, BS Psychology, BS Education, BS Hotel and Restaurant Management, BS Tourism, and BS Nursing.
Likewise, a three percent compensatory increase for AB Multimedia Arts and two percent for BS Information Technology shall also be imposed according to the admin’s tuition fee increase proposal.
This proposal follows in the wake of a 3.49 percent increase in 2017 and a further five percent increase in 2018.
Perez explained that according to Finance Director Maricel Llamas, 70 percent of the proposed collection will be allocated for the increase in salaries of faculty and staff.
The same reason has been cited by the administration for the implementation of the previous increases in last two academic years.
Llamas also added that the remaining 30 percent is necessary to compensate for losses incurred in the academes’ operations, of which Perez declined to disclose particular details.
Chief Technology, Innovation and Shared Services Officer Jose Orlando Lozada explained that part of such losses were due to recent development projects related to digital campus initiatives.
Also present in the tuition fee consultation were Iezyl Torino, vice chancellor for academics and research; Br. Leonilo Estrellas Jr. FSC, vice chancellor for mission; Erickson Martinez, executive assistant for partner engagement; Welmer Adajar, director for student services; as well as the college deans and representatives from other offices.
Breakdown
The five percent inflationary increase was proposed to offset the country’s inflation rate which was at six percent as of November 2018.
On the other hand, the compensatory increase is for those programs whose expenses exceed their collections due to low enrolment rates. This increase will be continuously applied in the succeeding years until the program has fully recovered from the losses.
Additional miscellaneous fees will also be added for the next academic year. These include a drug testing fee of 250 pesos which will be collected from incoming freshmen to comply with the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) order for mandatory drug testing beginning academic year 2019-2020.
An additional 78 pesos for regular students and 195 pesos for athletes will also be charged to pay for accident insurance.
An optional fee of 10,746 pesos per student for academic software subscription such as Adobe CC was also proposed. However, SG clarified that students may opt not to avail of this service.
Perez also revealed that the administrators claimed that a 16 percent increase in collection is actually required to meet their budget. However, they had to limit it to 10 percent as mandated by CHED.
SG reaction
In their official statement posted yesterday, Jan. 29, the SG expressed their opposition to this proposal stating, “We will continue to stand firm towards students’ rights for quality education and services.”
In a separate interview, Perez said, “Hindi naman justifiable na sa students kukunin ‘yung pambawi sa losses ng school. Hindi naman deserve ng students ‘yun.”
Perez also urged the student body to voice out their opinions through a survey they published online.
A freedom wall was also set up at the Student Center ground floor for students to freely respond to the proposal.
Another tuition fee consultation between SG and school administrators will be held at Sen. Jose Diokno building tomorrow, Jan. 31.
With reports from Vivien Beatrice Abrigonda
