Press Release
March 10, 2016

No tuition fee increase for SY 2016-2017 - Bongbong Marcos

VICE presidential candidate Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos Jr. has called on the government to implement a moratorium on the increase of tuition fees and other school expenses for the incoming school year.

This after reports indicated that around 400 colleges and universities were planning to jack up the fees their students are required to pay for academic year 2016-2017.

"I don't think parents and students could afford additional costs in the tuition fees considering the meager income and still high prices of basic commodities," he said.

He noted that there has never been a moratorium on tuition fee increases for the past several years which had resulted in the doubling of the amount of tuition fees in the country's educational institutions.

"There have been reports that in 2010, students had to shell out an average of P30,000 to P50,000 in yearly tuition but the amount has since doubled from P60,000 to P100,000. Baka hindi kakayanin ng ating mga kababayan kung tataasan na naman. Let us stop it for this schoolyear and study the options," he suggested.

The senator further stated that the Department of Education (DEPED) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) should prevent such plan of the schools as the two agencies are mandated to ensure that education in the country is affordable and accessible to all.

"The CHED and DepEd should intervene in favor of the students and their parents. Dapat ngayon pa lang gumawa na sila ng paraan para mapigil ang planong ito ng pagtataas ng tuition fees," he said.

When the current School Year 2015-2016 started June of last year, 1,246 kindergarten, elementary and secondary private schools, including integrated schools, had been approved to increase tuition and miscellaneous fees, according to reports.

It was also reported that for the same academic year, a total of 313 private Higher Education Institutions had similarly been approved for an increase of either tuition or other school fees.

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