๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ฆ, ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ญ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ค๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ฃ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฆ, ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ถ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ท๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ๐ด. ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ฆ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด.
When one hears about fees climbing, one word always comes to mind: inflation. Indeed, inflation impacts prices across all sectors. It’s like a rising tide that raises all boats, causing them to โriseโ everywhere. Ask the politicians you voted for if they think the same.
๐๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ณ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ธ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต. ๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ด ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ. ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฑ๐ข๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด.
๐๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฆ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ต, ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ข๐ช๐ณ? ๐๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ด ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ?
As costs for faculty salaries, maintenance, utilities, and administrative overheads climb, universities feel the pinch. And sure, inflation plays its role as the costs associated with running a university expand. Many educational institutions struggle to balance their budgets despite the sizable funds set aside for operating expenses. But one might wonder, where does all of this money go?
Notable costs include teacher salaries, utilities, and regular maintenance. Even with their present salary, many instructors report discontent with their wages. For instance, to hire a class instructor with a Php 50,000 monthly wage, the university would need to charge at least 1-2 student/sโ tuition in order to cover the instructorโs salary.
The university also has to take into account the salaries of the administrative staff, which includes employees in positions like deans, accountants, registrars, guidance counselors, admissions officers, secretaries, clinic staff, janitors, and security officers working various shifts.
Beyond these expenses, schools must set aside money for routine maintenance like fixing broken furniture and plumbing problems, as well as repainting dirty walls. Moreover, the teacher-student ratio must be carefully evaluated to ensure that there is either a financial balance that may then be used to fund capital projects like facility expansions and upgrades.
๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ถ๐ฑ๐ด, ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ช๐ต๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ข๐ช๐ณ๐ด. ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ด. ๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ข๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต’๐ด ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ง๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ข๐ช๐ณ๐ด?
๐๐ฐ๐ธ, ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ง ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฑ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ง๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ด๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ด ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ธ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ. ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ช๐ค ๐ง๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ข๐ญ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐บ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ต.
With the recently proposed substantial cuts in the budget of the public education system it has also transferred the cost of burden to students. When public financing is reduced, as highlighted by the Commission on Higher Education’s recent requests for additional funds, institutions are forced to scramble. So, as the water level in our bucketโ or the tuition feesโ diminishes, so does the source of waterโ public funding.
Tuition fee hikes in Philippine higher education are driven by various factors. Several schools and institutions advocate for a 4% to 10% increase in tuition. Given that a college studentโs average yearly tuition expense is between PHP 50,000 to 100,000, this proposed tuition increase appears significant.
Meanwhile, student organizations such as the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) strongly oppose such tuition increases, underlining the financial challenges they impose on students, particularly amid the pandemic and economic uncertainty. The NUSP claims that education is now being commercialized. This claim is troubling, especially when prominent schools like the University of Santo Tomas, De La Salle University, and Ateneo de Manila University have already proposed significant tuition fee increases.
๐๐ง ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ญ๐บ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ช๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ง๐ช๐น ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ธ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ? ๐๐ช๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐ญ๐บ, ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ.
Furthermore, through scholarships, sponsorships, and endowments, alumni and corporations might play a more significant role. Universities should strengthen linkages with their alumni networks and corporate partners, resulting in win-win situations in which firms would gain visibility and skilled employees in the future, while on the other hand, students would certainly benefit financially from this kind of partnership.
If our bucket analogy is correct, we must examine why the waterโ or our moneyโ is escaping. Is it exclusively due to inflation or our apparent holes? Or are there more hidden fissures caused by other factors? A clear breakdown of tuition allocations might help to explain these increases.
๐๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐บ ๐ช๐ด๐ฏ’๐ต ๐ข ๐ญ๐ถ๐น๐ถ๐ณ๐บ; ๐ช๐ต’๐ด ๐ข ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต. ๐๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ต๐ถ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ถ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ.
It’s not enough to cite inflation or general operational costs. Transparency not only builds trust but also empowers students to advocate for changes that matter most to them. This valuable skill will remain beneficial as they enter the workforce in the future. Being financially savvy and curious equips them to succeed in an ever-changing economy.
While inflation plays a role in rising tuition fees, it is neither the only nor the most significant factor. For students to bear the brunt of the tuition hikes without sufficient justification is an overwhelming compromise for the one who pays it.
๐๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ, ๐ช๐ง ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ต, ๐ธ๐ฆ’๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ง๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ. ๐๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ธ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ, ๐ช๐ง ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ’๐ต ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ง๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ, ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ง๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ.