Miscellaneous fees used to cover the cost of flexible learning according to CHED

The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) said on Wednesday that it would ask private colleges and universities to explain how miscellaneous fees being collected by private higher education institutions will be used to cover the cost of shifting to flexible learning amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

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During a Senate hearing, CHED Commissioner Prospero De Vera III said many parents and students had been wondering why fees for some services that can only be availed in face-to-face learning are still being collected by schools. He said,

Ang problem ngayon is not the application for tuition [hike] eh, it is the existing tuition and miscellaneous fees kasi hindi naintindihan ng mga magulang at mga estudyante ano 'yung basis ng nagbabayad pa sila kahit flexible na ang learning,

[The problem is not the application for tuition, it's the existing tuition and miscellaneous fees that parents and students don't understand and on what basis should they pay when it's flexible learning.]

Ang hiniling ng private universities is to be allowed to reclassify 'yung existing miscellaneous fees nila and to use that money for the new cost associated with flexible learning,

[The private universities is asking to be allowed to reclassify the existing miscellaneous fees and to use that money for the new cost associated with flexible learning.]

In the coming school year, most higher education institutions would implement flexible learning, which involved the mixed use of online platforms, learning management systems, and take-home packets, among others.

De Vera said CHED already identified the costs associated with the shift to flexible learning and will blast the same to private universities to help them explain to the stakeholders that the miscellaneous fees being collected will be used not for the original purpose but for adjustment to flexible learning.

In an earlier reports, Senator Imee Marcos urged the CHED to investigate why some schools still charged laboratory, library, internet, medical, dental, and energy fees as if regular classes will be held.

About 400 universities applied for tuition fee increases before the pandemic hit. However, only 89 pursued the application when CHED asked them to re-assess the situation.

The 89 represents about five percent of all private universities and colleges nationwide. The tuition and miscellaneous fee increases are still being evaluated by our regional offices.