THE UNITEAM of former Senator Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio urged the Commission on Higher Education to stop the looming tuition hike in some higher education institutions.

CHED recently approved the application of 56 HEIs to increase tuition for Academic Year 2021-2022.

Marcos and Duterte-Carpio, who are eyeing the presidential and vice presidential posts respectively, appealed to CHED to suspend the hike as many Filipino families are struggling financially because of the pandemic.

“We are appealing to CHED to consider suspending the scheduled increase. There are still a lot of families struggling even at this juncture of the pandemic. Allowing the hike in tuition and miscellaneous fees will be an added burden on families whose finances have not yet fully recovered. This may even lead them to stop sending their kids to school altogether,” the UniTeam said.

CHED Chairperson Prospero De Vera III said the approval of the tuition increase was in line with CHED’s guidelines on the recalibration of Miscellaneous and Other School Fees.

“We understand that private education institutions also need to generate revenues to sustain their operation. However, we still need to consider the capacity of a student’s family to pay the added fees. Let’s consider the situation of those who are hard-pressed due to the pandemic,” the UniTeam added.