Refund of unused school fees to Baguio City students sought

RELIEF FOR STUDENTS. Marshals and school officials of the University of Baguio pack relief goods for their stranded students at the UB Cardinals gym. The city council has approved a resolution, proposing a refund of the unused tuition paid by the students.  

By Pigeon Lobien  

BAGUIO CITY – The city council here has invited heads of schools and universities for its regular session on May 4 to formally ask tuition fee refunds due to the cancellation of classes starting mid-March until the end of May due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

City council committee chairman for education Vladimir Cayabas said they want to have school heads or representatives discuss with them school fees refund with classes practically canceled when the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) was imposed last March 17.

Most private schools in Baguio, including college, started the school year 2019-2020 in July or August, practically making only the 7th month of classes for high school and the second month of the second semester for those in college.

“We have invited the concerned offices representing schools/universities on Monday,” said Cayabas, also an administrator of a specialty school in the city.

The city council approved a resolution requesting the private universities and colleges to study the possibility of refunding reasonable school fees that were unused by the students due to the cancelation of classes.

The resolution is a request for a possible refund of the portion of some school fees as this “will definitely help the families and stranded students to cope with the ongoing Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine for them to be able to buy food, medicine and allow them to settle their bills among other payables during these trying times.”

"The students are not able to physically use school facilities and avail of existing school services which means that they are unable to benefit from their paid school fees such as laboratory fees, library fees, and miscellaneous fees," the resolution read.

President Rodrigo Duterte declared the ECQ last March 16, suspending classes until April 14.

This was subsequently extended until May 31 when mayor Benjamin Magalong signed Executive Order 78 after meeting with school officials, practically the end of the semester for college and the school year for high school.

The resolution said at the “onset of the prevailing semester, the students and their parents or guardians have already partially or fully paid their tuition fees, miscellaneous fees and other schools fees covering the entire semester with the expectation that all paid services will be fully assessed and used by the students to aid them in their studies.”

It noted that most of the students have gone home to their provinces but “some have been stranded in their boarding houses and apartments in the city and that they need whatever available assistance that is readily available for them to be able to survive the prevailing crisis while waiting for their allowances from their parents and guardians.”

The approved resolution was transmitted to the different universities and colleges for their administrations to look into the viability of the proposal.

Meanwhile, some of the universities, like the University of Baguio and the University of the Cordilleras, have launched relief operations for stranded students.

UB and its alumni association have also undertaken a fund drive called special relief fund to be “used to provide emergency food assistance to UB students, employees, and alumni who are affected by the Covid-19 crisis.”

A webinar, or online seminar, has been staged by UB’s School of International Hotel and Tourism Management that included training on cooking Cordillera cuisine, baking cookies, and mixing summer drinks, among others.

The Baguio College of Technology has currently imposed a modular and online class, school finance officer Ligaya Abad said. (PNA)