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UP Diliman University Student Council’s Position Paper on the ST System

To be presented on the 3rd University Committee on Student Financial Assistance (UCSFA)

AY 2014 - 2015

I. IntroductionThe issue of tuition scheme has been a long debate within and outside the university. It was in the year 2006 when tuition rates were increased from a maximum of Php 300 per unit to Php 1,500 per unit. Inflation has been pointed out as a reason behind this change. The rates were adjusted in comparison with other top universities’ cost of education. However, various groups criticize this primarily due to the financial barrier that it may cause on students. At the time, the Socialized Tuition and Financial Assistance Program (STFAP) was facing a lot of criticisms, wherein its ability to allow students to study regardless of financial capacity was put into question. The debate was re-ignited when KristelTejada, a UP Manila student, took her own life after not being able to pay for her UP education. This put the debate to national attention and the result is what we have today called the Socialized Tuition System (ST System), introduced by the Pascual Administration to respond to the problems raised regarding STFAP. Efficiency is the main advantage of the ST System compared to its predecessor. From the 14-pages that students needed to fill up in the STFAP, it became two pages and applications can now be done online. Still, a lot of issues were raised by the students regarding this mechanism.

The UP Diliman University Student Council, committed to its mandate to empower its constituency of over 20,000 students, initiated a university-wide survey on all the students who experienced the new ST System. The goal of the survey is to gather feedback on the newly implemented system. The council would want to use this in order to present a comprehensive proposal on how to ensure quality, accessible, and relevant UP education. We do hope that this position paper is considered for policy decisions regarding student financial services here in the university.

II. Survey ResultsMethodThe university-wide survey conducted by the University Student Council is in partnership with the Office of the University Registrar (OUR), UnPlug, and the League of College Councils (LCC).All UP students who are eligible to answer the ST System application were emailed a survey form in which they can input their responses. Each student was given unique passwords to

ensure the credibility of responses. The following is the list of questions asked in the survey:

High School Type Where is the nearest place where you are able to access internet to

apply for ST System? Did you apply for a tuition discount through the STS? How did you accomplish the Socialized Tuition (ST) application form? How did you feel while answering the STS application form? How difficult or easy was it to answer the following questions on the

STS questionnaire? (Student Profile, Household Characteristics, Household Income)

Were you satisfied with the initial result of your STS application? Why were you not satisfied with your initial tuition discount? Did you appeal your initial results during the appeal period? Why did you not appeal your initial STS results? Were you able to pay your tuition even before receiving the results of

your appeal? What sources enabled you to fund your tuition? Are you satisfied with your final STS result? Why are you not satisfied with your final STS result?

RespondentsThe total number of respondents who answered the survey is 5,692 students. The following is the breakdown per college:

College No. of Respondents

College No. of Respondents

College of Arts and Letters

273 College of Business

Administration

449

College of Fine Arts

109 School of Economics

219

College of Human Kinetics

102 Asian Institute of Tourism

118

College of Mass Communication

292 School of Library and Information

Studies

74

College of Music 83 National College of Public

Administration and Governance

111

Asian Center 1 Technology Management

Center

1

College of Education

93 College of Architecture

260

Institute of Islamic Studies

0 College of Engineering

1748

College of Law 135 College of Home Economics

315

College of Social Work and

Community Development

45 College of Science

538

College of Social Sciences and Philosophy

476 School of Statistics

250

TOTAL: 5692

Resultsa. High School TypeOut of all the respondents, 53% came from private schools, 21% from public high schools, and 24% came from science high schools. The remaining 2% comes from students who underwent an alternative learning system when they were in their secondary education.

b. Internet AccessIn this question, the respondent was asked about the nearest place where they were able to access the internet to apply for the ST System online. 71% expressed that they accessed the internet at home, 14% did it in a nearby internet station, 10% accessed the internet in school, while the remaining 5% accessed it thru other means.

c. ST System ApplicationHere, the respondents were asked if they applied for a tuition discount through the STS. The following graph is the result:

4259; 75%

1433; 25%

STS Application

YesNo

We can see that there is an overwhelming number of students (1,433 or 25%) among the respondents who did not apply for a tuition discount.

d. Manner of Accomplishing the ST System FormIn this question, the respondent was asked how they accomplished the ST System Application. The following summarizes the responses:

603; 14%

2747; 64%

53; 1%

432; 10%

426; 10%

Accomplishing the STS Appli-cation Direct and with no ass-

sistance from anyone

Direct and with some assistance from parents/guardians in some questions

Downloaded the ST form first, studied it alone, be-fore accomplishing online

Downloaded the ST form first, studied it with par-ents/guardians, before accomplishing online

Here, we can see that the manner by which the respondents answered the ST application varies a lot. Some chose not to be assisted by anyone while others were more cautious. This can have a potential effect on the resulting tuition discount that they received during the online application.

e. Respondents’ Feeling while answering the ST System Application

894; 13%

1215; 18%

83; 1%2911; 44%

1315; 20%

214; 3%

Perception in Applying

AnxiousConfusedIndifferentCautiousConfidentOthers

It is clear that a significant number of respondents (a total of 38%) were either anxious o confused in answering the survey forms. This can be

attributed to the difficulty of understanding the expected answers to the questions.

f. Difficulty of Answering the ST System ApplicationIn this part, the respondents were asked to rate the difficulty of answering the ST Application questionnaire. They were asked to rank the difficulty from 1 to 10 with 10 being the most difficult and 1 being the easiest. We divided this question into the three parts of the ST Application questions – the Student Profile, Household Characteristics, and the Household Income. On the average, the difficulty of these parts is summarized by the following table:

Category Difficulty (on the average)

Student Profile 2.94Household

Characteristics5.48

Household Income 5.35

From here, we can say that the Student Profile is the easiest to answer while some struggled in the Household Characteristics and Household Income part. This must be a point of study and intervention.

g. Satisfaction from Result of ST System Online

The chart summarizes the satisfaction of students from their initial tuition discount from the online application. We can see that there’s only a small margin between those who were satisfied and those were not.

h. Reasons for those who weren’t satisfied with the Initial Tuition DiscountIn this part, most of the respondents pointed to the following reasons why they said that they’re not satisfied with results of the online application:

Existence of a medical condition in the family which contributes greatly to their household expenses

Inadequacy of the income of their parents/guardians to pay for the initial tuition

Outstanding loans

2169; 51%

2072; 49%

Satisfaction with Initial Result

YesNo

i. Decision to Appeal Initial Tuition DiscountAmong those who weren’t satisfied with the initial tuition discount, only 47% actually appealed. The following reasons are the top answers as to why they didn’t appeal:

Unaware that appeal is possible Uninformed on how to appeal

Note that among all who appealed, only around 46% were able to pay their tuition with the initial tuition discount. Most of which depended on their family savings to be able to pay.

j. Satisfaction with Final ST ResultIt is alarming that even after the appeal process, 60% is still not satisfied with the result due to unforeseen circumstances and inability to pay the rates.

III. RecommendationsEntry to UPAccording to the data obtained by the University Student Council from the Office of the President, there is an alarming number of students who pass the UPCAT but do not choose to study here in UP. In the 2013 data, only 66%* of all the passers enter the university (See Table 1). The distribution of their family income is somewhat skewed towards the higher income brackets. This proves two things. First, there are strong deterrents to entering the university given that even some of the UPCAT passers do not choose to study here. Second, among those who enter, we can see that most of them come from middle to higher family income brackets. In the Philippines, those coming from public schools are at a disadvantage. Besides the fact that the quality of education they get is poor compared to those coming from science and private high schools, most of them can’t even afford to pay for the entrance exam of UP. In this part of our position paper, we provide recommendations on how to increase, not only the number of students who actually go to UP, but also those coming from the low-income family brackets, far-flung areas, and public high schools.

a. Accessible UPCATWe recommend that the UPCAT fees be waived for those coming from public high schools. The USC believes that UP should exert extra effort in finding the best of the best from the high school students of the country. We can’t take the risk of losing a good student just because he/she can’t pay for the UPCAT. Waived fees will encourage students from low-income family to take the test. Also, we believe that we can’t assign a blanket policy even for private high schools. Even there, there are still students who belong to low-income families. Therefore, we suggest that the UPCAT fees be socialized for private higher institutions. Those who cannot pay, based on their income level, must have their fees waived by the university.

b. Free Review SessionsWe recommend that the university must institutionalize free UPCAT review sessions for low-income students. Besides the fact that their schools are disadvantaged due to the lack of budget that the government gives them, they’re further marginalized by the fact that those coming from private high schools are the ones who have access to UPCAT review sessions. Usually, review sessions cost around Php 4,500 to Php 6,000. In essence, this becomes an income-generating scheme, when in fact; all high school students must be given an equal playing field. If possible, online reference materials must be made available in the UP website.

c. PalugitSystemBelieving in the principle that the university should be open to all regardless of class, race, gender, or ethnic background, we believe that UP should put prime importance on ensuring the diversity of its students. We therefore recommend that the UPCAT scores of those coming from far-flung areas be given a bit more adjustmentor “palugit”. This is to ensure that UP education is enjoyed, not only by students from capital cities, but even those from far provinces.

d. On-Ground OrientationOne of the potential reasons why students who pass the UPCAT still don’t enrol is the possibility that they’re not aware of the financial services available for students. In the media it is often misconstrued that all UP students are paying Php 1,500 per unit in tuition. Other financial services such as loans and student assistantship are not disseminated well especially for those who just passed the UPCAT. We therefore suggest that there should be orientations done in strategic cities for those who just passed the UPCAT in order to inform them on these things. Those coming from far-flung areas must be provided with transportation allowance in order for them to attend these orientations. We further suggest that the university must tap local government units in order to help finance this initiative. Student councils and volunteers must also be tapped for added manpower.

e. Transportation AllowanceEven for those students who are guaranteed free housing, free tuition, and stipend, one restraint preventing these students to enter the university is the issue of transportation. This is an issue especially for those coming from far provinces that definitely can’t pay for air fare and other means of transportation. We recommend that the university must shoulder these transportation costs. This must include all the modes of transportation needed by the student.

Applying for ST System

The UP Diliman University Student Council believes in a socialized tuition scheme. This means that those who can pay must pay, and those who can’t pay must be duly subsidized.By the principle of social justice, we believe that UP must make extra efforts in providing financial assistance to those who need it the most.This applies not only on the tuition fees that we pay, but also on other student services such as housing, stipends, scholarships, and student assistant positions. The current ST System provided a more efficient tuition scheme compared to its predecessor, the STFAP. However, as we have seen from the survey results, there’s still a lot to be done to improve its effectiveness in providing the right tuition discount for the students.

a. ST Survey RequirementA huge number of students totally ignored the ST Application. In the current system, those who did not really answer whether they need the ST System or not are automatically placed in the “No Discount” category or Php 1,500 per unit. This puts a lot of risk when it comes to targeting the most needy. One can assume that those who ignored the online application totally are the ones who don’t need it. However, there can be other factors that hindered the students from answering the ST System. According to our survey, there’s a significant amount of students who are not familiar with the system. The University Student Council even encountered a group of varsity players who weren’t able to apply because they have no idea that such a program exists. They were placed in the no discount bracket, but when the student council appealed for their brackets in the second semester, some of them were actually in the “Full Discount with Stipend” category. Given these facts, we recommend that answering the ST System be mandatory for students. This will lessen the risk of students not being able to be given the right tuition discount. Also, extra effort must be exerted by the administration to those students who don’t have access to the internet during the time of application.

b. Uniformity of the Local Committees on Student Financial ServicesOne of the salient features of the new ST System is the fact that decisions on appeals are already made on the unit level. This provided a more efficient way of solving appeal cases. However, the conduct of solving appeals in different campuses varied. In UP Diliman, the local committee used a trust-based system wherein the committee only relied on the written statement of the students in granting tuition discount appeals. This provided an easier appeal system for students because they need not to provide documents to prove their narratives. This is especially important especially for those who really can’t afford the documents being required by the predecessor of the ST System which is the STFAP. Also, the appeal process was hastened in Diliman because the committee was able to set multiple meetings within a week (going beyond the number of meetings necessary). There were cases wherein the Diliman committee had to

interview the student if the narrative they sent is not clear. This however is the exception rather than the rule. That’s why it is in Diliman that all appeals were resolved the fastest among all campuses. Unfortunately, this is not the practice in other units. Some units prefer to interview all the students who appealed. Some also required everyone to submit the documents they need.

Among all the students that we provided assistance through our registration grievance desks, these practices are some of the reasons why students are discouraged to appeal their tuition discount. Aside from the fact that a lot of misinformation has been circulating when the ST System was initially implemented, students fear that their tuition discounts will not be corrected. We therefore recommend that the local committees adopt the trust-based system that was followed in Diliman. We believe that the appeal stage is crucial since the initial step of online application is not enough to take into consideration all of the economic factors affecting a student’s capacity to pay. Therefore, the administration must put all efforts to ensure that the students maximize the appeal system and not be discouraged to do so.

c. Guidelines on Online SurveyOne of the resounding feedbacks in our survey is the fact that the online questions of the ST System are ambiguous for the students. They can’t accurately pinpoint which among the choices really reflect their actual economic conditions. We suggest that guidelines on answering each question be posted together with the survey. This is to ensure that the students accurately answer the online ST System survey.

d. Flexibility of ST SystemIn Diliman, we encountered cases wherein students need a tuition discount adjustment due to extraordinary cases that suddenly hinder them from paying in the middle of the semester. An example is the case of a student whose parents suddenly lost their jobs or became victims of natural disasters. There should be a system of taking these appeals in the middle of the year/semester so that the tuition discounts assigned to students are flexible enough to adjust to their actual economic conditions.

e. Transparency in the Appeal ProcessThe decisions on ST appeals are actually based on the discretion of the committee members in the unit level. We believe that the rationale of these decisions be transparent to the students so that they may respond if there were some mistake in taking their conditions to consideration. There must be a system wherein students may request how the decision on their appeal was handled.

f. Information-DisseminationOne alarming issue raised in our survey is the lack of information when it comes to the ST System. Being new, it is not a surprise that a lot of students are not aware of it. We suggest that the administration make efforts in disseminating pertinent information about the ST System through various means such as thru social media, publicity materials, and college orientations. There should be strong coordination with the college councils to ensure that proper information is being disseminated to the students.

Affordability of UP EducationOne key result of the survey that we have conducted is the feedback that despite the efficient process of applying for the ST System, many students still find it unaffordable. There must be adjustments and reform to be made in order to ensure that these fees are not deterrent to the accessibility of UP education.

a. Progressive Tuition Fee RatesCurrently, the tuition rates in UP follow the 2006 rates wherein those who are categorized as part of the high-income families pay Php 1,500 per unit while those who fall to the low-income families don’t pay tuition and receive monthly stipend. Students are given tuition discount based on their family’s economic conditions. However, concerns regarding the affordability of these rates still occur based on the feedback on our survey. Looking into the rates, we learned that the current tuition rates paid by the different income levels are regressive. By using the term “regressive”, we mean use it in terms of the percentage of family income being paid as tuition by the students. To understand more clearly, we look at table below. Here, we can see that as we go down on the income levels, the tuition rates being paid by the students are actually going up in terms of percentage of income with the exception of those paying no tuition fees. There’s a high chance that this is the reason why students actually think that they still can’t pay the fees collected from them. We therefore recommend a progressive tuition rate for all the income levels. An initial proposal can be seen on the third column of the table below. Here, if we are to maintain the Php 1,500 rate for the highest income families, then we need to adjust the other rates. Note that this proposal is being recommended without calling for the increase in the rates. As it is, students are already burdened highly by the current rates and increasing it would be unjust as far as accessibility is concerned. However, we are open to the idea of reducing the Php 1,500 rate for the highest income owners so long as the rate for the other income levels are adjusted based on progressivity.

Current Tuition Rates (Regressive)

Sample of Progressive Tuition Rates

Rates per Income Tuition as Rates per Income Tuition as

Unit Range a % of Income

Unit Range a % of Income

Php 1,500 >Php 1.3M 0.11% Php 1,500 >Php 1.3M 0.11%Php 1,000 Php 500K

– Php 1M0.15% Php 400 Php 500K

– Php 1M0.08%

Php 800 Php 250K – Php 500K

0.25% Php 135 Php 250K – Php 500K

0.06%

Php 300 Php 135K – Php 250K

0.24% Php 41.25 Php 135K – Php 250K

0.033%

0 Php 80K – Php 135K

0 0 Php 80K – Php 135K

0

0 Plus PhpPhp 3,500

Stipend

<Php 80K -2.425% 0 Plus Php 3,500

Stipend

<Php 80K -2.425%

b. Removal of Academic Requirement for the Stipend FDS StudentsWe were informed that in the current ST System, those who belong to the “Full Discount with Stipend” (FDS) category need to comply with certain academic requirements in order to receive their stipends. This model seems to follow that of an academic scholarship. The UPD USC believes that such a practice is not in line with the goal of the ST System of providing for the neediest. We suggest that these academic requirements be removed.

c. Equal ApplicationA consistent concern about the ST System is the fact that it’s not applicable for students taking graduate courses or double degrees. According to Pres. Pascual in a dialogue with the UPD USC last year, this is so because they have the capacity to pay for their tuition fees. This, however, is not completely true. If we really want to encourage students to pursue graduate studies or go for their true passion in another degree, then financial barriers must be lifted. In the case of the College of Music and the College of Fine Arts, most of their students are double degree majors and find it so hard to pay for their tuition fees. We believe it is just to equally apply the socialized tuition scheme to graduate students and double degree majors.

d. Revolving Funds for all UP unitsOne of the problems encountered by various UP campuses is the lack of revolving funds to be used for the added stipends of students in the FDS category. We recommend that there be revolving funds for these stipends that are taken from a percentage of the university’s income from the rental of our idle assets.

Loans and Other School FeesAside from the ST System application, one major concern from the students is how to pay for other fees aside from tuition that need to be settled during enrolment. Also, several issues were raised when it comes to the current implementation of the loan system.

a. Other School Fees Review and TransparencyThere is a growing concern due to the fact that there are fees other than tuition that are not fully explained to the students. To make it worse, these fees are being paid by all regardless of their tuition discount classification. In the spirit of transparency and accountability, we believe that the administration should present a report summarizing all these fees and explaining why such fees are being collected. Also, we believe that these fees must not be equally applied to all. Discounts on these fees must be given based on the tuition discount classification that students get from the ST System.

b. Unsettled LoansAn issue during the registration for AY 2014 – 2015 has arisen due to the instructions regarding students with outstanding loans from the previous semesters. They were told to settle even a portion of the previous loan to loan again for the new semester. However, we believe this is in contrast to the promise of removing Article 330 in the university code. It comes with an amendment in the tuition loan system as well. We believe that this practice of requiring the settlement of outstanding loans prior to enrolment must be stopped.

c. Removal of Interest RatesCurrently, 6% per annum is being collected from students who don’t pay their loans within two months. We believe that these interest rates must be removed in order to lessen the burden being passed to students. These students who avail loans are the more vulnerable when it comes to financial incapacity and the university must do all it can to ease them of that burden.

Other Student Financial Servicesa. Increasing the Cap for ScholarshipsCurrently, the maximum amount of support that a student can get is limited to Php 7,000 for undergraduate students. Due to inflation, this amount has been eroded in terms of real value. We believe that this cap should be increased to cater to actual needs of the students.

b. SA IRRRecently, the BOR approved the proposal to increase the wage received by Student Assistants (SA). However, the Implementing Rules and Regulation

(IRR) document of the said policy is yet to be done. We urge the administration to hasten the drafting of the IRR of the increase in SA wages.

Recommendation for Further StudiesWe believe that the university must look into the reason as to why UPCAT passers don’t enter the university. The UPD-USC thinks that this can give light to possible solutions to make the crème of the crop enter the national university. Also, the MORES-1sec must be reviewed when it comes to its capacity to measure the students’ economic status. A partnership with the School of Statistics will shed light into this instrument and possible improvements.