SLU students in Baguio City hit tuition increase

Gabrielle Francisco, president of Saint Louis University Kasama Supreme Student Council in Baguio City, leads protest against the looming 9-percent increase in tuition and other school fees outside their campus on Monday, April 24. -- Photo by Jethro Bryan Andrada

BAGUIO CITY — Students of Saint Louis University (SLU) here on Monday staged a rally at the main gate of their Bonifacio campus to oppose the looming 9-percent increase in tuition and other school fees (TOFI) that the administration is eyeing to impose for academic year 2023-2024.
    The tuition increase, one of the highest in recent years, is set to be implemented among freshmen in SLU’s undergraduate, graduate, law, and medicine programs.
    Gabrielle Francisco, president of the SLU KASAMA Supreme Student Council (SSC), said the 9 percent TOFI is “unjust.”
    “Magsisilbi itong dagdag pahirap sa mga kabataan at mag-aaral ng SLU (It will serve as an additional burden to the students of SLU),” Francisco said.
    Francisco also expressed concern about an SLU memorandum announcing there would be “no increase” in tuition of students who are in their second to fifth year at the university.
    She said that the increase was instead funneled to their other fees, effectively making TOFI applicable to all SLU students.
    A dialogue between KASAMA SSC and the administration was also held on Monday afternoon, along with another silent protest on campus grounds.

Francisco also said if the SSC is unsuccessful in preventing the administration from increasing tuition, they were still hoping for a moratorium or transparency from the university.

“Sana magkaroon man lang ng transparency and disclosure report para we know where it increased funds in TOFI is allocated. We hope that there can be at least a transparency and disclosure report so that we know where it [increased funds in TOFI] is allocated),” Francisco added.