up_los_banos.jpg…after 17 years.

Since 1989 (the year I entered as a freshie), U.P. tuition was stucked at P300 per student-credit unit (P250 in Los Baños and P200 in Baguio, the Visayas and Mindanao) when the Jose Abueva U.P. Sytem Presidency lauched the Socialized Tuition Fee Assistance Program, more popularly known as STFAP.

While the “higher brackets” may not agree that STFAP (was and) is a good system, STFAP is an ingenous mechanism that allowed UPCAT passers from far-flung, economically challenged places ( like moi) to set foot on a U.P. campus and get a decent college education - the kind that hones young minds both inside and outside of the four corners of the classroom.

So say the least, yes, I owe my U.P. diploma to STFAP and of course to my father’s strong will and disposition and whole lot of other financial benefactors. :-P

(Now that the 5.0’s i got are flashing back like lightning…i shiver of shame. He he. But lest you worry and ask, the 5.0’s are a young, restless mind’s irresponsibilty that I can now equate to a 1.0+++ in life. ;-))

OK, enough about me before I divulge more of the younger, wilder days that should remain hidden in my son’s reading eyes…let me go back to the UP tuition fee increase that will be implemented in the academic year 2007-2008.

From Solita Monsod’s November 18 INQ7.net article:

Entering students (starting in school year 2007) whose families are in the bottom 36 percent of families as far as income is concerned (annual incomes of P70,000 or less), Bracket E, have free tuition plus a monthly stipend of P12,000.

Those whose family incomes are above the 36th percentile and up to the 67th percentile (annual income of P70,001-P135,000), Bracket D, will enjoy a tuition discount of 70 percent, meaning to say that their tuition rates will remain at P300 per unit.

Those whose family incomes are above the 67th percentile up to the 97th percentile (annual income of P135,001-P500,000), Bracket C, will be given a 40 percent discount.

In other words, only those entering students whose family incomes are between P500,001 and P1 million will actually be paying the full tuition of P1,000 per credit unit. And by the way, in the true spirit of socialization, those who belong to families with incomes over P1 million a year are going to have to pay full cost or near full-cost tuition — P1,500 per credit unit. They don’t deserve to be subsidized by the Filipino people, and they will not be subsidized.

Neat, huh? Assuming that the income profiles of entering UP students in 2007 are the same as in 2004, only about 20 percent of incoming freshmen will be paying full tuition (which still means a subsidy of about 30 percent) or full-cost tuition (no subsidy), with the additional income from them being used for stipends for the poorest students.

To top it all, the tuition rate increases will be imposed only on incoming freshmen starting next year. Those already in the university will pay the old rates.

And I guess if the old rule is still in place, in those brackets getting a monthly allowance, a student don’t get it (from partial to none) if you had bad grades in the preceeding semester.

According to the above article, currently, Ateneo’s tuition charges are P2,200 per unit, and while La Salle’s are P1,700.

Ateneo and De La Salle are U.P.’s close competitors (i guess) in prestige and the quality of education.

So U.P.’ll be charging P1000 per student-credit unit, when it should have been dirt cheap if not free since time immemorial if only we were under ideal governance. But then that is another story for debate.

You know what, if I had enough moolah (which ony should be) by the time Raine goes to college…I’d rather send him to Ateneo… and don’t ask me why! ;-)