Manifesto for the Urgent Passage of STFAP Reforms

[The following manifesto will be distributed in different UP campuses to be signed by students.]

TO: The Honorable Members of the Board of Regents


Enough is enough. As months idly pass by without starting discussions on tuition policies in the University's highest decision-making body, we are left only to speculate on whether we will face the same unjust, regressive, and flawed tuition scheme in the next semester.

As early as March, during the height of controversy on the University's Socialized Tuition and Financial Assistance Program (STFAP), proposals to reform the program have already been submitted by Bukluran ng mga Progresibong Iskolar - UP System to the Board of Regents (Policy Recommendations on the STFAP and Other Tuition Policies, "Appendix B"). These proposals were intended to complement reforms prepared by former OSSS OIC Asst. Prof. Richard Philip Gonzalo (Proposal to Revise the STFAP and Student Financial Assistance Services of UP, January 2013) which were a product of numerous workshops and consultations.

Both proposals detailed mechanisms to adjust existing STFAP brackets, make bracket assignment more efficient through decentralization, and ensure that brackets reflect the actual financial capacity of students to pay for the assigned tuition rates. In April, the Board of Regents met and came up with nothing more than a policy statement that no student should be deprived of education in UP on the sole basis of financial incapacity. Actual deliberations on possible tuition reforms were deferred for the next Board meeting. Come June, discussions were once again delayed.

The situation becomes more frustrating if we consider the fact that, as early as 2007 or shortly after the current STFAP was approved, we already submitted proposals to revise the STFAP (UP ALYANSA’s OpenLetter on the Socialized Tuition and Financial Assistance Program (STFAP) andTuition Increase, "Appendix C"). As early as then, we already pointed out the unjust bracketing system and raised the idea of "delayed paying schemes."

The same proposals were adopted in 2008 (STFAP: Paid Under Protest!, "Appendix D"), adding that the OSSS was administratively unprepared and incapacitated to faithfully implement socialized tuition and that the STFAP, despite its background of years of study, must be regularly reviewed. In 2012, barely a year before the tragedy of Kristel Tejada, we again raised the same proposals, that time additionally calling for transparency in bracket assignments (Policy and Procedure Recommendations for STFAP, June 2012). Indeed, as the years pass by, the injustices of the existing STFAP only become more and more apparent and only more and more exacerbated.

Six years since the adoption of the current STFAP, we have been met with nothing but refusal to even start discussions on crucial and urgent reforms in our tuition scheme. We have had enough. For years, we have waited in long queues for too long, waited for results of our bracket appeals that are regularly released late and beyond periods of payment, waited for bracket assignments that do not match our actual financial capacity, having been skewed by odd and outdated factors.

The entire point of reforming the STFAP is to institute urgent and crucial solutions to immediate problems now. The government must be blamed for its inadequacies in providing sufficient subsidy for education, but if we cannot look for ways to immediately address problems in our own tuition policies, if we cannot make socialized tuition work, we have no one else to blame but you. You, whose honorable title cannot be separated from the mandate to serve this University's largest sector of stakeholders - more than 50,000 UP students pleading for help, asking for relief, crying against injustice in the present tuition policies. Will you refuse to listen to us? Will you set aside years of our relentless struggle by simply waiting it out?

Shall this be our fate - that, as students of this University, the status of which as a national university is as prominent as its reputation for long queues and delays, we shall wait and wait? How many more of us must helplessly endure four or more years of unheard cries against the unjust, regressive, and flawed tuition scheme, only to graduate without even the slightest empathy from you? Shall we wait for another tragedy, another death, another moment of national humiliation on TV and broadsheets, for that prompting shock to make you act, and act swiftly?

The discussions on proposals for crucial STFAP reforms must start now. Not next month, when there will have been less time to carefully deliberate on possible reforms. Not next semester, when we will have incurred loans after being assigned to wrong brackets. Not next year, when you will have been judged for an entire year of doing nothing.


We will not let you delay any further.

Fight for quality and accessible education!

Reform the STFAP now!

Reform the STFAP now!

We greet the new academic year mourning. As we pay our tuition fees, the scene becomes all too clear: One of us, unable to pay, is forced to take a loan from the University, forced to sit through classes without her name in the class list, and eventually forced to leave the University due to financial incapacity.

At the height of our frustration, it becomes easy to unqualifiedly oppose. The danger arises, however, when we decide to do away with policies and programs that are otherwise reasonable in principle. What will happen to UP students without socialized tuition? Will we all be forced to pay equally high tuition rates? Is free tuition possible without sacrificing quality education, given the current budget deficiency for state universities and colleges?

In the context of wide social inequality and scarcity in the budget for higher education, a socialized tuition scheme in its essence presents itself as the most viable solution to ensure that our education is at the same time quality and accessible. Reality demands equity over equality: Those who cannot pay must be subsidized, while those who can must pay.

Yet, despite its idealism, the present tuition scheme as revised in 2007 is unjust, regressive, and flawed. While the "no late payment" policy in UP Manila has been suspended, we continue to be haunted by anti-student rules such as Art. 330 of the University Code, unjustly stating without qualification that "no student who has not duly matriculated shall be admitted to classes." The rule is aggravated by the administration's imposition of unjust ad hoc policies such as assigning students to Bracket B by default.

Moreover, present tuition rates as percentage of income are larger for lower brackets, producing a regressive tuition schedule.* Whereas Bracket A students pay only at most 0.15% of their income for tuition, Bracket B students pay at most 0.20%, Bracket C students pay 0.24%, and Bracket D students pay 0.22%.

Finally, flaws in the implementation of the STFAP are all too familiar: Because of the current policy of centralizing bracket processing in the System-wide University Committee on Scholarships and Financial Assistance (UCSFA) that rarely meets every academic year, results of STFAP applications never make it in time for enrollment. At the same time, arbitrary and outdated indicators based solely on income have produced countless overheard stories of mismatches in bracket assignment.

All of these problems make it clear that, despite our momentary victory in making tuition loanable for up to 100%, the struggle for a just, progressive, and efficient socialized tuition scheme must continue.

The outdated STFAP and other student financial services must be reformed by:

1. Repealing the "no pay, no admission" rule in Art. 330 of the University Code;
2. Developing a progressive tuition schedule by either increasing income thresholds per bracket or lowering tuition fees;
3. Allowing payment of tuition in installments or a late payment option;
4. Prohibiting default bracket assignments;
5. Reducing the time for bracket processing to 2 months and releasing results before enrollment;
6. Decentralizing approval of bracket appeals to the unit/campus level;
7. Using consumption-based indices instead of the current income-based index;
8. Making bracket assignments transparent by providing detailed explanations upon release of STFAP results;
9. Ensuring flexibility through midyear bracket reassignment in cases of unexpected changes in income sources per family;
10. Applying the STFAP even for graduate and second-degree students without increasing tuition rates;
11. Allowing online STFAP application and submission of electronic documents, as recognized under the E-Commerce Law;
12. Providing transportation allowance upon entry of freshmen from distant areas; and
13. Annually reviewing existing tuition policies and programs.

The unheard cry of one of us, along with our frustration, must now be coupled with serious, concrete, and critical proposals for reform. Our struggle has been long, complex, and painful, but our victories prove that history is now in our hands.

As the Board of Regents is set to once again discuss the University's tuition scheme on June 20, we will make sure we are heard. On June 19, join us at the AS Steps, 4:00pm, for a mass tarp signing for our proposed reforms. The tarp will be posted in campus to welcome regents arriving the next day.

Iskolar para sa Bayan, ating pagtagumpayan ang isang makatarungan, progresibo, at epektibong programang pangmatrikula sa Unibersidad!

Be critical. Go beyond scrap.

REFORM THE STFAP NOW!

ALYANSA's policy recommendations on STFAP and other tuition policies forwarded to the UP administration

Dialogue with Asst. Prof. Richard Philip Gonzalo (the official in charge of revising UP’s tuition programs) on STFAP and other tuition policies on 21 March 2013 at Malcolm Hall 307, UP College of Law.

Photo by JC Tejano (@jctejano on Instagram).

UP ALYANSA, BUKLURAN UP System, and other youth and student groups forward its position paper on the university's STFAP and other tuition policies to the UP Board of Regents, UP President Alfredo Pascual, the UPD Office of Scholarships and Student Services (OSSS), and Asst. Prof. Richard Philip Gonzalo (the official in charge of revising UP’s tuition programs).

ALYANSA and BUKLURAN's policy recommendations include the following:

• Repeal of Article 330 of the University Code, or the "no pay, no admission" rule
• Transparency in the STFAP by explaining to students in writing how their brackets were assigned
• Flexibility by reducing the proposed two-year bracket renewal period to one year
• Online STFAP application with the submission of electronic, instead of physical, documents for verification
• Equal application of STFAP bracketing for second-degree and graduate students without hiking tuition levels
• Yearly review of the STFAP by the admin and students
• Mode of payment in installments
• Deferred payment option without interest
• 100% tuition coverage of the existing student loans program
• Transportation allowance for UPCAT passers from distant areas

READ OUR POSITION PAPER IN FULL AT http://bit.ly/Z2Kxyc.

Iskolar para sa Bayan, pagtagumpayan natin ang QUALITY, RELEVANT at ACCESSIBLE EDUCATION... PARA SA UP, PARA SA BAYAN!

UP ALYANSA on the tragedy in UP Manila

We are one with the UP community in grief and frustration over what has transpired to one of our fellow Iskolars just recently. It is unthinkable that the state university, the university that should supposedly provide quality, relevant, and accessible education to Iskolars ng Bayan, would deprive an Iskolar of her right on financial bases. This should serve as an alarming wake up call to the administration to repeal repressive and unjust policies such as “no payment, no enrolment” schemes and forced Leave of Absence policies.

Problems like these are what socialized tuition and financial assistance are meant to solve; financial ability should never be a hindrance to our right to education. But it is obvious that the principles of socialized tuition have not been met. The administration has failed to do all it can to meet the needs of its Iskolars.

UP ALYANSA will continue the call for a higher budget on education. But in addition to this, we call for the administration to show that the higher budget we have received is used for the students; the administration must be transparent in its use of funds, always aiming to accommodate the students. We cannot tolerate the administration allowing the denial of education to Iskolars ng Bayan.

The principles of socialized tuition must also not be perverted. We call for review, consultation, and revision of the current STFAP scheme. The bracketing system must be revised to adequately accommodate the students. The payment policies must be relaxed to allow students to study in spite of their immediate financial ability. Lastly, loans and financial assistance programs must be made accessible and favorable to the students so that socio-economic condition will never be a hindrance for the availing of the state education that is due to them.

As we maintain our principles of social justice and social progress, we will continue strive to ensure that education is quality, accessible, and relevant. Although sad and mournful, we must now wake up to the realities of failures and let-downs of the current system and policies. As Iskolars para sa Bayan, we must actively involve ourselves in reformation that will support and accommodate the marginalized, powerless, and oppressed sectors of society as well as our fellow Iskolars para sa Bayan.

Let us be one with the USC UP Diliman and the whole UP community as we wear black on March 19 and March 20 to fight against repressive policies and call for a more accessible education.

STFAP Under Protest!

We thought we were faced with a new endeavour, a new evil that spreads fear among our ranks. But, once again, we were wronged and were made fools as we believe the news that some groups claim to be true.

FACT: Last April 8, the UP Administration issued a memorandum declaring that they will use a "revised Socialized Tuition Fee Bracket B Certification for distribution to incoming freshmen students during the Registration Period for the First Semester AY 2011-2012". The additional requirements are: (1) Income Tax Return (ITR) for the last year or, a copy of the employment contract if parent(s) is/are Overseas Filipino Worker(s); and (2) Vicinity map of the family residence. The certification is also required to be notarized.

LIE: The default bracket for incoming freshman students during the Registration Period AY 2011-2012 is Bracket A (or P1,500/unit).

FACT: According to the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs (OVPAA, UP System) and the Office of Scholarships and Student Services (OSSS, UP Diliman), the default bracket for STFAP remains at Bracket B (or P1,000/unit).

We condemn the groups within the University who are spreading fear among the students, in general, and the freshmen, in particular. We encourage our fellow and incoming Iskolars Para Sa Bayan to keep themselves informed and to not let themselves be a victim of misinformation.

But this does not keep us from pushing for a just, progressive, and socialized tuition policy. We condemn the already flawed Socialized Tuition and Financial Assistance Program, and the manner by which this memorandum was issued. Again, the primary stakeholders of the University weren't consulted given the additional requirements to avail the base tuition, a clear violation of Students' Rights and Welfare.

As we have said since 2008, we have waited long enough for the UP Administration to rectify its severe errors. This period has long expired. Let us not stand idly as another year goes by when more and more deserving students are deprived of access to UP education.

Let us show everyone, especially the UP Administration, that our payment of tuition is not an expression of our conformity to their erroneous policies. Let us show that we have PAID UNDER PROTEST against policies that prejudice us and our fellow Iskolars Para Sa Bayan.


PUSH FOR A JUST, PROGRESSIVE, AND SOCIALIZED TUITION POLICY!


June 14, 2011