On November 3, 2015, students from the University of the Philippines Cebu exposed yet another issue that involves other school fees (OSF). Two political organizations expressed their opposition to the approval and implementation of these laboratory fees to be instituted to their respective laboratory courses.

Like the other constituent units and universities, UP Cebu updates its curriculum every five to six years. With this, the different academic divisions of UP Cebu are currently developing their respective new curricula to adjust to the K to 12 system that has already been implemented for three years. In this light, the UP Cebu administration, under the leadership of Dean Liza Corro, proposed new laboratory fees that corresponds to the proposed courses.

The University of the Philippines’ mandate as the National University states that UP shall “Protect and promote the professional and economic rights and welfare of its academic and non-academic personnel.”

As a part of its rights and responsibilities, it is also stated in the UP Charter of 2008 (RA  9500) that it “shall take affirmative steps, which may take the form of an alternative and equitable admissions process to enhance the access of disadvantaged students.”

Both lines from the UP Charter indicate that as the country’s national university, it has the responsibility to provide access to all Filipino citizens, regardless but especially for those financially incapable yet deserving youth. It is every Filipino citizen’s right to have a quality, and accessible education on all levels, as stated in the Philippine Constitution.

It was in 1983 when students started paying tuition to receive UP education. The late president Ferdinand Marcos, through his Presidential Decree No. 1177, “began to allot more than a third of the national budget to debt servicing as foreign debt incurred by the Marcos government boomed dramatically.” (Lora, 2013)

In those days, students had to pay a flat-rate tuition of P40 per unit. Today, three decades after the first imposition of tuition in UP, students pay P1,500 per unit at most. In UP Cebu particularly, students pay up to P1,000 per unit.

Aside from the tuition UP students pay, they also have to pay for other school fees such as miscellaneous fees (energy fee, development fee, library fee, and the like) and certain laboratory fees (all depending on the course that require it).

The revision of the different programs’ curriculum entails the removal of some courses, to cater to the K12’s Senior High School curriculum. With some introductory subjects already tackled in senior high, necessary adjustments to the UP Cebu program’s course offerings have to be made. Thus, with the proposed instituted courses, there is a need for laboratory fees.

However, in a statement made by the UP Cebu student council chairperson, Justine Balane, said that “students are charged for the use of electricity (power consumption) plus maintenance of the air conditioner and computer units inside these laboratories.”

In pursuit of knowing what the essence of the fees is, I interviewed the Associate Dean for Academics, Dr. Richelita Galapate, PhD.

The inclusion of the power consumption and the maintenance in the calculation for the laboratory fee does not necessarily mean students pay for the entire calculated fee. For instance, in a certain subject, the total proposed fee is P1,000 which indicates that P600 of it is actually for the power consumption, the student must only pay P400. The rest of the calculated fee (P600) is allegedly subsidized by the government.

Balane also claimed that “The admin and some of the faculty says we have limited funds. They say we are missing out on good laboratory experiments, software upgrades or other important stuff needed to improve the quality of education if we don’t collect lab fees.”

But when asked whether the laboratory fees are used for rehabilitation of facilities, Galapate said that those allegations are incorrect. The budget for which classroom and laboratory rehabilitation and maintenance are from the Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) budget of UP Cebu.

In the Biology program’s case, their supply for chemicals and equipment are funded by the laboratory fees that students pay. The moment they run out of chemicals for that certain course, they cannot immediately restock because they would have to request for funding which can be a very bureaucratic process to undergo, and that would take a long time. In an instance where they do run out of chemicals, they would have to wait for the next semester to collect lab fees which they will use for that semester.

According to National Union of Students of the Philippines, the said other school fees have three characteristics—redundant, exorbitant, and dubious (RED).

In the Commission on Higher Education (CHED)’s Memorandum Order No. 14 series of 2015, “Tuition” is defined as the “charges for instruction and general services of all students”. The laboratory fees that UP students pay are redundant, exorbitant, and dubious in nature because students already pay tuition. Given this definition of tuition, and Dr. Galapate’s explanation of the rationale of the said laboratory fees, it is indeed RED.

In a statement released by NUSP, they stated, “the commercialization of state education via tuition and OSF increases … tell us that the UP administration is hell-bent to sacrifice its public character.”

UP Cebu student council vice chairperson Vince Dingding said, “What the admin failed to see is that these laboratory fees are redundant fees given that the budget for laboratory materials should be taken from the tuition that students pay; that’s the purpose of tuition anyway.”

Dingding added that these “lab fees” are not the only redundant fees that students of UP Cebu are paying. “The fact that these Iskolars ng Bayan pay for the school’s development fee is also redundant… Dean Corro said so herself, UP Cebu has certain budget, which by the way increased since the previous years, allotted for capital outlay.”

The Office of the Dean released a press release which stated that,

“For UP Cebu alone, it has a budget of P173 million this year. Next year, the endorsed budget is at P208 million, but this amount is only for capital outlay (amount used to finance physical structures) and equipment outlay. This means that when the other portions of the budget will be included, like the personal services (PS) and maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE), next year’s budget for UP Cebu is significantly high.”

 The Nagkahiusang Kusog sa Estudyante, a political organization in UP Cebu, calls to their fellow Iskolars ng Bayan to oppose tuition and other fees.

NUSP vice chairperson for Visayas, Dyan Gumanao, said that the OSF issue that UP Cebu now faces is just like any other university’s problem regarding OSF. “The problem is clear, the State is slowly abandoning the SUCs all over the country. These increasing tuition rates and other school fees  are manifestations of State abandonment, leaving the students to fend for themselves.”






****
References:

1. 42 SUCs get P145 M in additional funds [Online] / auth. Diaz Jess // The Philippine Star. - October 29, 2015 . - www.philstar.com/education-and-home/2015/10/29/1515931/42-sucs-get-p145-m-additional-funds.
2. Guidelines and Procedures to be observed by Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) intending to increase tuition and other school fees, and introduce new fees [Online] / auth. Commission on Higher Education // Commission on Higher Education Website. - 2005. - http://www.ched.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/CMO-No.14-s2005.pdf.
3. No Budget Cut [Online] / auth. Galolo Jeandie // UP Cebu Website. - September 24, 2015. - http://upcebu.edu.ph/no-budget-cut/.
4. SC-DAC Report on Incoming Laboratory Fees [Online] / auth. Balane Justine // Google Drive. - November 2015. - https://goo.gl/QRpBBw.
5. Student and youth groups hold Aquino accountable for tuition hikes, budget cuts - See more at: http://nusp.org/just-march-against-tofi/#sthash.VlDPFUsM.dpuf [Online] / auth. NUSP // National Union of Students of the Philippines. - March 14, 2014. - http://nusp.org/just-march-against-tofi/#sthash.VlDPFUsM.dpuf.
6. Where has the public character of UP gone? [Online] / auth. NUSP // National Union of Students of the Philippines. - July 16, 2015. - http://nusp.org/up/.
7. Why We Call to SCRAP STFAP: A mini primer [Online] / auth. Lora Kristian Jacob // Facebook. - March 9, 2013. - https://www.facebook.com/notes/kristian-jacob-casas-abad-lora/why-we-call-to-scrap-stfap-a-mini-primer/10151377229129794.