UP WANTS TO BANISH IMAGE IT CATERS TO RICH

MANILA – For years, University of the Philippines (UP) has been perceived to be a university of the rich, judging primarily by the nice cars lining its student parking lots in different campuses across the country.

There's a grain of truth to this perception.

In a recent dinner for the press hosted by UP President Alfredo Pascual, he revealed plans of broadening the applicant base of the University of the Philippines College Admission Test (UPCAT) to cater to more students from poor families.

Based on data he provided, UP qualifiers belonging to households with income of P100,000 and below was only 9.3% of the total number of qualifiers in 2014. Ten years ago, the percentage was higher or 11.8% in 2004.

On the other hand, the qualifiers belonging to families with more than P1 million income was 23.9% of the entire 2014 qualifiers. In 2004, those who qualified from this income category was lower at 17.7%.

Qualifiers from the P101,000 to P200,000 household income category, meanwhile, was 14.5% for the 2014 school year, down from the 19.3% in 2004.

Those in the P201,000 to P300,000 income category was at 16.9% in 2014, from 19.9% from 2004.

Those in the P301,000 to P400,000 category slipped to 17% from 19.3% while those from P401,000 to P500,000 category slightly dropped to 18.5% from 18.7%.

Those in the P501,000 to P1 million category, on the other hand, was at 20.4% from 18%.

More telling numbers: qualifiers from public high schools (general) was 77.4% in 2006, but only 25.4% in 2014.

Qualifiers from private high schools was 49.8% in 2014, more than double from the 21.8% in 2006.

[However, qualifiers from public science high schools (including state universities and specialized high schools) was at 24.8% in 2014 from 0.8% in 2006.]

“So what do we do? Let’s get more of the poor families to take the UPCAT,” Pascual said.

Starting 2015, UPCAT reviews will be offered online – a plan that took baby steps the past few years but faced strong resistance from several parties, he said. He believes using the Internet will not hamper poor students from taking the reviews, rather than enrolling in more expensive review centers.

An overhaul of the UPCAT is also in the works, he added.

“We will review the UPCAT and admission policy to enhance the democratic process to UP. It will become less of achievement-based, but more of aptitude-based,” he said. He plans to implement the changes before he leaves his post as president.

THE KRISTEL TEJADA IMPACT

In 2013, the UP system implemented an “explicit policy” that “no qualified students are denied access to UP education due to financial incapacity.”

This was after a 16-year-old freshman in the Manila campus, Kristel Tejada, allegedly took her life after failing to pay her tuition.
UP later described Tejada’s death as an “isolated, unfortunate case.”

Calls began to grow seeking the abolition of the Socialized Tuition and Financial Assistance Program (STFAP), which some deemed was still too stifling for promising but poor students.

In response, Pascual’s administration scrapped the STFAP and introduced the Socialized Tuition System (STS), which seeks to speed up the processing of tuition bracket applications, adjust income brackets, and increase the monthly allowance of poor students.

The changes were applied this school year.

Pascual said the new system attracted more students to apply for a tuition discount. More are now enjoying a full discount, numbering 3,134 as of September 2, compared to the 2,654 when the STS was not yet in place. He said 1,703 have pending appeals.

UP BUDGET STILL A PROBLEM

He said UP has a long way to go before it achieves its goal of fully supporting the needs of the entire community, besides the students.

UP proposed a P24.45 billion budget for 2015, but based on the National Expenditure Program submitted by the Department of Budget and Management, this was cut to P12.61 billion.

UP’s approved budget in 2014 was at P9.37 billion.

Asked if the UP’s plan of a “suprastructure” can withstand any budget cuts, Pascual said: “There is no room for pessimism here. We have to lead with conviction.”

It used to be that UP had zero capital outlay, but it now has more than a billion pesos each year beginning 2012, he said.

Pascual described suprastructure as “the knowledge capital for innovation capacity resulting from spending on science and technology and research and development.” This means more scholarships, several infrastructure projects as well as competitive salaries for the UP faculty and staff.

UP is also preparing for the ASEAN integration, which calls for student and faculty exchange, research collaborations, and more.

The initial step was implemented this year when UP changed the academic calendar to August.

Pascual said UP also has savings worth P800 million from income in the UP-Ayala Land Technohub and the UP Town Center operations but “we’re using this for reserve. If we get the money from Congress, why use the reserve?”

APPEAL TO ALUMNI

Pascual said UP is also planning to tap its alumni.

“In many universities, alumni support is a very critical source of support. We also get that from the UP alumni, but not as much as we want to,” he said.

He said he is planning a “periodic and regular commitment from the alumni, starting from what one can afford.”

He said UP is also planning a system wherein help from alumni can translate to tax deductions.

SOURCE: ABS-CBN