MEMBERS OF the Sanggunian urged Vice President of the Loyola Schools (VPLS) Dr. Maria Luz Vilches to further involve the student body in discussions regarding the school budget during the Magtanong sa VP at mga Dekano session on February 8.
The Magtanong session is a yearly presentation of the school budget by the VPLS to students of the Ateneo. This session is one of a set of presentations to different sectors of the university before finally being approved by the Board of Trustees in June 2017.
Vilches announced a 6% increase in student tuition for the school year 2017-2018 in order to account for a further decrease in student enrollment for the following years. She estimated that the student population would stabilize at 2020.
Further consultations
Sanggunian Committee on Fiscal Affairs Chair Marvin Santiago raised the possibility of additional consultations with sectors of the student body that are “directly involved by the tuition fee increase.”
Santiago said that additional options could be explored in addition to scholarships through the consultations.
“People have been saying that we should consider for example, lower tuition in response to [these changes to the budget],” he said.
“As I was saying, we are very conservative when it comes to increase in tuition fee where it is not a knee-jerk reaction… it’s been very well considered because we are responsible in terms of presentation not just to the LS but to many parents and the rest,” Vilches said.
“It’s not arbitrary,” she said.
Moreover, Vilches pointed out that the purpose of the Magtanong session was to provide consultations with the student body, of whom noticeably few were in attendance.
“I do not know how many will turn up during that consultation because even now, there are more administrators in this room than students,” Vilches said.
Budget inspection
In addition to this, Sanggunian President Carmela Vinzon requested a copy of the budget proposal in order to inspect the allocation of funds collected from the tuition fees.
“Para makita po namin ‘yung (So we can see the) item-by-item breakdown, we’re requesting po for a copy for the budget proposal,” Vinzon said.
“A lot of those [fees in the tuition payment] are very large amounts, so we would like to know how they are spent,” she added.
“We’ll study that,” Vilches said.
SAF decrease
Sanggunian SOSS Representative Christian Dy suggested a proposal to reduce the Student Activities Fee currently being collected by students.
“Right now, mukhang hindi nangyayari ‘yung makapag-isip ng ibang proyekto (we will not be able to think of additional projects) for the surplus [for the Sanggunian],” said Dy.
“An idea has been floated that we might want to consider lowering the SAF so that mas sakto ‘yung (we will have a more sensible) collection versus the expenses that we are spending,” he added.
“Make a proposal. It’s your prerogative to make a proposal…you don’t even have to ask the question if you have the capacity… you have. It’s part of your prerogative,” said Vilches.
