OUTCR P
Mapagpalayang kaisipan sa malayang pahayagan Agosto-Setyembre 2014
MOTION DENIED
BOR scraps proposal for tuition rollback ANGELA LAUZON
T
o suspend the implementation of Socialized Tuition System (STS) and to lapse back the matriculation was not an option by the University of the Philippines Board of Regents (BOR) as they rejected the rollback proposal in its 1299th meet last July 31. Student Regent (SR) Neill Macuha’s proposal took basis in the Mendoza Report, a review made by the Study Group on Admissions as ordered by UP President Alfredo Pascual.
ed that the Study Group on Admissions was created primarily to investigate into UPCAT as the main reason why poor students are isolated from access to UP, as rural areas are less capable.
Democratic access The motion submitted by SR Macuha was in line with the alternative proposal of the Mendoza report, suggesting “a uniform and affordable tuition befitting UP as a state supported institution for higher learning regardless of socioeconomic class.” Under the motion, SR Macuha plans to create a Special Committee to recommend a policy proposal of an accessible and uniform tuition rate system to the BOR. Also, the proposal sees to defer the further implementation of STS and revert the tuition to the pre-socialized tuition rate of P40 per unit across the UP system. The motion was dismissed by President Pascual, stating that points from the Mendoza report have already been applied. President Pascual further stat-
Purpose defeated According to the Study Group on Admissions led by Dr. Teodoro Mendoza of University of the Philippines Los Banos (UPLB), the high cost of tuition and other fees is one of the three interrelated drivers why the number of students from the poor sector is getting smaller. The report inferred that the poor have been ‘edged out’ from being Iskolars. The report also stated that with tuition rates that denies students from a supposed state university, only those who can pay are given access to the academic excellence offered by UP. In fact the average no show rate, or those UPCAT qualifiers who did not persist to study in UP, for the whole system is 40%. Moreover, more than 50% of those no-shows were due to financial incapacity.
The report also studied STS and concluded that it “became anti-poor despite the earlier claims that it was to make UP education affordable for students admitted into UP, particularly those coming from the poor families.” As an example, the study cited that the annual income to provide the basic need of a family of six is P438,000 while the threshold for the paying bracket (Bracket D) is a predicted income of P135,000. The Mendoza report stresses the demand to support more poor students given that a great number of Filipino households are necessitous. In line with this, the Study Group affirms that a tuition rollback to a uniform and accessible rate must be implemented. If UP wishes to maintain and promote “Iskolar ng Bayan”, there should be no socio-economic divide between its students, the group’s report concluded.
graphics by RICHMOND SIMEON and LEVI GELN INGENTE
In the report Democratizing UP Education, three main reasons were identified that causes the edging out of the poor students in UP namely:
Bracket Distribution of Undergraduate Students HIGH TUITION AND OTHER FEES
UPCAT
•Tuition fee increase •Very few E1 and E2 •Very low income threshold for bracket D
•Lack/Inadequate information about UPCAT •UPCAT is very difficult
HIGH COST OF LIVING •High lodging fees •High food prices •High school expenses
(First Batch - July 2014)
•Bracket A (No Discount) -23% •Bracket B (Partial Discount 33%-40%) - 30% •Bracket C (Partial Discount 60%) - 31% •Bracket D (Partial Discount 80%) - 12% •Bracket E1 (Full Discount) - 3% •Bracket E2 (Full Discount w/ Stipend) - 1%