COCOPEA says some private schools seeking tuition fee hikes

Some private schools providing basic to higher education have applied for tuition fee increases for the next school year, the Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations of the Philippines (COCOPEA) said.

In Mariz Umali’s report on 24 Oras on Monday, the group said said tuition fee hikes are long overdue and that 70% of the tuition fee increase would go to the teachers' salaries.

“To respond to the inflation and the difficulty, economic difficulties being experienced by our parents, we cannot help but also apply for tuition increase ranging from 3% to 9%, 12%,” said COCOPEA chairman Fr. Albert Delvo.

“Some of these schools the last time that they applied for an increase was even pre-pandemic. So, I think it was just really about time for them to adjust their fees,” said COCOPEA legal counsel Kristine Carmina Manaog.

The Department of Education is gathering information about the schools that applied for tuition fee hikes while the Commission on Higher Education said it has yet to discuss a tuition fee increase in the Commission en Banc.

If the tuition hike is approved, parents like Nicolas Flores will be affected.

“Siyempre kung ano gusto niya pumasok susuportahan namin. Kung ako tatanungin, government school sana, di ganun kalaki babayaran,” said Flores, who has a child in college.

(Of course, I want to support him in pursuing the school he wants. But If I’m being honest, I prefer if he is in public school since it is more affordable.)

Flores is currently working as a real estate agent and an insurance agent.

Amid the challenges the education sector is facing, COCOPEA has also submitted to President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. a shortlist of recommendations for the next Department of Education (DepEd) secretary, after Vice President Sara Duterte quit the post.

Among the list are Negros Occidental Representative Jose Francisco Benitez, Senator Sonny Angara, DepEd regional director Joyce Andaya, DepEd Undersecretary Gina Gonong, and Ateneo de Naga University faculty member Fr. Wilmer Joseph Tria.

“At least we have forwarded a vital document reflecting our pulse, our liking, our sentiment. It should not be hurriedly done it should be a careful deliberate and a cautious process," said Delvo. — Celine Serquiña/BM, GMA Integrated News