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The State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) gained some after losing
some as Congress allotted P20.8 billion in subsidy for their
operations this year, Quirino Rep. Junie Cua said Wednesday.
The good news came a day after President Gloria
Arroyo ordered the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to prompt
the state-run schools to freeze its tuition hike this year from
soaring food and fuel prices.
“The P20.8 billion appropriated for the
country’s 112 state colleges and universities forecloses the need
to hike tuition in these schools,” Cua, the senior vice chair of
the House Appropriations Committee, said. “The subsidy granted to
them may not be enough to modernize state college campuses, but it
[already] covers operating costs.”
Cua noted that Malacañang’s original subsidy
proposal was only worth P19.4 billion, but the House and the Senate
lobbied to augment the budget by P1.5 billion.
“A total of 865,000 students are expected to
troop to the SUCs next month, which means that every student will be
subsidized by an average of P24,000,” Cua said.
The SUC students are truly “Iskolars ng Bayan”
since each Filipino family contributes P1,185 a year to run these
schools through their tax payments,” he added.
Aside from the government’s financial backing,
the state schools could raise funds through their internally
generated income such as tuition, miscellaneous fees and donations.
-- Sammy Martin
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