No tuition hike in MP state college

BONTOC, Mountain Province – The Mountain Province State Polytechnic College will not implement the 25 percent approved increase in its tuition fee for schoolyear 2012-2013.

           

MPSPC officials said administration does not want parents to suffer the burden of higher education even as militant student groups are now circulating a petition regionwide opposing the purported 300 percent increase in the tuition fee of state universities and colleges in the Cordillera.

           

 Dr. Nieves Dacyon, MPSPC president, said management’s decision not to implement the approved tuition fee increase this schoolyear should serve as a wakeup call for good Samaritans to help the institution subsidize school fees so deserving students will acquire education.

           

 “Supposedly, the tuition fee of MPSPC students is P100 per unit after the approval of the 25 percent increase approved by the Board of Trustees (BOT) but management decided to maintain its tuition fee at P75 per unit for the current schoolyear.

           

 “We do not want parents to be solely shouldering the burden of their children acquiring higher education, thus, we opted not to implement the approved tuition fee increase this schoolyear,” Dacyonsaid.

           

She added it is now high time for philanthropists and good Samaritans to assist deserving students.

            

According to her, she is wondering why militant students came to a conclusion that SUCs in the Cordillera are increasing their tuition fees by 300 when in fact, the SUCs have different percentages of tuition fee increases that were approved by their respective BOTs like the 25 percent increase for MPSPC.

            

“The school must be able to fulfill its obligation in providing our students with quality education which they will be able to positively use in landing in good paying jobs in the future that will help them improve the living condition of their respective families,” Dacyon stressed.

            

During Dacyon’s first term as MPSPC president, more than 4,000 students from the different towns of Mountain Province were able to enjoy free tertiary education because their tuition fees were subsidized by the late Rep. Victor S. Dominguez through his Priority Development Fund (PDAF).

            

However, the tree tertiary education program was not pursued by Dominguez’s successor considering that infrastructure is now their priority because of bigger investments and return.

            

“Education is still the best inheritance that parents and guardians could give today’s youth since they could use it in order to move on to greater heights as it could not be easily taken away from them unlike material things,” Dacyon said.

           

She added quality of education being offered by SUCs is at par with private higher education institutions located in urban centers, thus, more students are now being lured to enroll in SUCs in their places rather than go to populated areas to pursue higher education.

            

Aside from being affordable, students enrolled in SUCs could also help their parents in their farms during weekend and use some of their time for productive purposes to help them earn additional income to sustain their studies. -- Dexter A. See