THE UNIVERSITY of the East is struggling to survive, its president, Esther Garcia said during a dialogue with officials of the Commission on Higher Education and representatives of the school’s student councils.

Students asked the commission to intervene and stop the alleged excessive fees collected by the university.

A report by the school’s publication The Dawn quoted Garcia as saying that the “university’s survival is at stake despite trying to minimize its expenses amid the pandemic.”

“UE is not swimming in funds. UE still has dues to pay. We did try our best. However, UE can’t continue to give considerations to the students because they have already seen the impact of those actions. Survival na ang problema natin,” she said.

“I don’t want to furlough more people. We remove more people or we all close together. We actually revived the possible collapse of the University,” Garcia added.

The student councils earlier sought CHED’s help in urging the university to refund and waive all “unused fees” for Academic Year 2020-2021.

Citing low enrollment and higher taxes, Garcia maintained that the school “cannot pay more compensation since it cannot survive anymore.”