UP President Alfredo Pascual has clarified the inexistence of a default bracket in the stricter Socialized Tuition and Financial Assistance Program (STFAP).
He said the policy changes in the STFAP system aim to properly allocate students, especially those under Bracket B, to their suitable brackets based on their socio-economic standing.
Pascual added that this only replaces the “weak rule” of the previous system in which students who do not apply in the program are automatically placed under Bracket B.
In the new STFAP policy, students currently assigned under Bracket B, with tuition of P1000 per unit in UP Diliman, Manila and Los Baños and P600 per unit in other campuses, will need to submit a duly notarized Bracket B Certification Form with supporting documents to stop their automatic reassignment under Bracket A, with tuition of P1500 and P1000 per unit.
The Office for Scholarships and Student Services first applied the new scheme to incoming freshmen this year, where they are required to accomplish any of the three to be able to enroll: declare their annual family income to be more than P1 million and be placed under Bracket A, prove with documents their annual family income to be within P500,000 and P1 million and be placed under Bracket B, or apply in the program for lesser tuition under brackets C, D, E1 and E2.
But no changes in bracket assignment will be implemented with regular and graduating students assigned under Bracket B this semester, provided they will submit the requirements before the start of the registration for the second semester.
This, however, is just another hindrance to the less fortunate students to enroll in the university according to Anakbayan Chairperson Vencer Crisostomo.
“In light of the growing number of UP entrance exam passers who can’t afford the tuition, this latest development will only worsen the situation,” he said in an article on their official website.
Days earlier, a news report revealed that 1,011 of the 3,826 UPCAT 2010 passers did not enroll.
The policy change only assumes that all UP students can study in UP at high tuition rates, said Abigail Castillo, Secretary-General of Gabriela Youth–UP Diliman.
Meanwhile, Ralph Angelo Ty, an incoming journalism junior at the UP College of Mass Communication, called the new scheme ‘anti-poor’ and ‘anti-student.’
“Bagama’t maganda ang konsepto ng isang ‘socialized tuition scheme’ dahil needs-sensitive ito, hindi pa rin dapat ito ang pangunahing i-moda ng UP sapagkat ang edukasyon ay karapatan,” he added.
The STFAP Alphabetic Bracketing Scheme was applied in 2007, when then UP President Emerlinda Roman approved the 300 per cent Tuition and Other Fee Increases. But despite its aim to assign fees to students according to their economic capabilities, the STFAP is seen by many as a mere band-aid solution for the tuition hike.
This article was retrieved from a Wayback Machine archive of UPJC’s old website on Aug. 28, 2011, 10:02:52 GMT.