NO TUITION FEE INCREASE, JUST DEDUCTED FEES.

Covid-19 really took the world by storm, especially in the education sector. Undoubtedly, it has closed small educational institutions as well as big colleges. The policies put in place by governments to slow the transmission of COVID-19, like social distancing and percentage operational structure, have led to massive demand and supply shock.

When UIC declared the suspension of face-to-face classes at all levels, the biggest question of everyone was “How about the tuition fees?” or “What will happen to the fees now that the students are not going to school anymore -- physically?”. UIC administrators didn’t waste time in making sure that these concerns from stakeholders get attended to immediately. Moreover, they were given an opportunity to stand as environmental advocates to inspire others and address climate change to preserve our environment.”

In June 2020, during the height of the pandemic in the Philippines, UIC suspended fees from the students’ financial assessment like laboratory fees across the Basic Education Department up to the Higher Education department.

The suspended fees helped the parents from the Basic Education Department to avail of gadgets for their child’s “new normal” setup which is studying at home. The common sentiment of the students across all levels was the setting of budget when it comes to buying a laptop or a tablet since these mentioned devices are expensive. Given that the unexpected situation the country is currently in, lots of families were financially devastated due to a cut-off working hours or worse, laying off employees.

The decision by the school administration helped a lot of parents get back on track when it comes to their finances while sending their children to UIC. “I know I am having a hard time right now when it comes to our finances, I still need to balance between school expenses and house expenses… but I still want the quality education for my child. I know UIC can still provide the best education for my kid even in this new normal set up and I definitely know that there will come a time when this will be over and our kids will get to enjoy school again”, a parent from the college department said. This year has been the year where transferees took a shot too in studying at UIC because of the reduced fees.

It is true that Covid-19 did such a devastating effect on the institution, the parents, and of course, the students. But this small initiative of suspending other fees for two years now has given UICians to continue their education at the university and get the quality transformative Ignacian Marian education that they have known for years. Juris B. Elorde-Saño