SENATOR Imee Marcos urged the Commission on Higher Education to come up with guidelines on the reasonable decreases in tuition and other school fees.

During the hybrid hearing of the Committee on Higher, Technical and Vocational Education on Senate Bill 1744 or a measure seeking to revise Republic Act 7722 or the Higher Education Act of 1994, Marcos said under Section 8 of the law, the CHED has set guidelines for reasonable increases in tuition fees and other school expenses.

“Can it be possible that the Commission also set guidelines for reasonable decreases in tuition and other fees? Is there such a thing? I am very, very concerned about this power to set tuition guidelines, increases, and what do we define as reasonable increases? Are there decreases?” she asked.

The senator also asked resource persons for data on the transfer of students from private higher education institutions to state universities and colleges and the decreases in cost brought about by the digital learning and home schooling.

Senate Bill 1744 also mandates the creation of CHED provincial offices for a more effective service.

Senator Joel Villanueva, chairman of the committee, asked CHED to submit a proposal on how the bill could be justified amid the government’s streamlining efforts and how the measure could resolve problems of coordination in the education sector.

“We often talk about the importance of coordination with the three education institutions. We are aware of our backlogs in the Philippine qualifications framework, the ladderized education program and the Teacher Education Council. It all boils down to the lackluster coordination in the education sector,” he said.