By: Andrea Eleanor Cabaron, Sophia Pacheco
The Letran Student Council confirms that CHED has accepted the 10% TOFI petition of Letran Manila. Photo screen-grabbed from LSC official communique to students.
The Letran Student Council (LSC) released an email advisory dated February 23, 2024, which contains the council’s dialogue with the Department of Student Affairs (DSA) and the Letran Financial Affairs Division (LFAD), focusing on the pivotal issue of Tuition and Other Fees Increase (TOFI) this early February.
On TOFI update
The same LSC advisory email confirmed the 10% tuition fee hike was officially approved by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) last December 2023. It also explained that the approval letter was delivered to academic heads at the beginning of the second semester. However, the information was not directly disseminated to the students by their department academic heads as per the LFAD’s update in the email advisory.
In an interview with The LANCE, Dale Calalang, from the College of Education (COED) area, commented on the process of distributing information and the potential benefits of the Tuition and Other Fees Increase (TOFI) to the student body.
“I am aware that LSC announced the approval of TOFI. The council should be able to disseminate information to the students regarding this matter. I think TOFI is beneficial in many ways to the student body in terms of the many improvements promised by the Colegio. However, the initiative to have this TOFI should have been cascaded to the student body from the very beginning. It was a surprise to many, and we cannot invalidate how most of us feel since TOFI means that we have to prepare, save, and allot more,” they said.
Calalang was also asked what should be prioritized first when it comes to changes within Letran to which they responded regarding budget and wifi connection concerns within the Colegio.
“As a future teacher, I hope that the promised increase in the salary of teachers and as well as school staff should be considered. The increase in the RSO budget must be granted. As an LFES President, we know that the current budget every RSO has is no longer enough in order to produce much better and higher quality projects. Lastly, the wifi improvement. What’s frustrating is that we have to make sure that we have data before going to school since the wifi connection is really poor,” Calalang stated.
On School Infrastructures and Student Leadership
The LFAD has also stressed its commitment to “incremental improvements” and acknowledged the need for renovations, particularly in the Letran facilities.
An anonymous respondent from the College of Business Administration and Accounting (CBAA) cited their dissatisfaction with Letran’s classroom and other facilities.
“Based on my experience during class, some of the televisions in the rooms we use are not working, this causes a delay in our lessons. This should be a priority since this affects the flow of our lessons,” they said.
They also added that the hallways are “too dark”, becoming unsafe to walk into as they have classes scheduled during the evening.
Another interviewee from the College of Engineering and Information Technology (CEIT) also provided their overall viewpoint on the subject.
“Siguro ‘yung [mas] bigyan nila ng pansin, [or] mag-focus sila dun sa facilities. Katulad ng sa CR, kase most of the CRs sa Letran is mababaho ‘yung CR. Tsaka siguro ‘yung mga upuan sa room kase [parang] kailangan na palitan, ‘yung mas comfortable naman sana.” they stated.
They also advised the LSC to continue paying attention and remaining mindful in their future plans.
“As a former student leader, [siguro] ang maa-advice ko sa LSC, mas maging considerate sila sa mga plans and actions na gagawin nila. [Kase] andyan sila sa position na ‘yan, kase pinagkatiwalaan sila ng mga student here sa Letran.”
Kierstine Madrigal, a student from the College of Liberal Arts and Science (CLAS), also shared similar sentiments on the importance of the LSC being accessible to students.
“Listen to the students. The student council should be serving the student body, not the administration,” Madrigal stated.
Student Council on Taking Actions and Dialogues
Incumbent student council president, Jarmilla Cansancio said they waited approximately two months to have a dialogue with Letran Finance regarding TOFI. Initially planning social media posts, they switched to email due to DSA concerns on limited reach and engagement of the information on social media. However, not all students received the said email partly due to mailing list issues.
“Isa sa naalala kong concern as to why bakit hindi siya sa social media kase may possibility na limited yung marereach niya kase halimbawa sa aming LSC if you would take a look at our engagements hindi siya gaano karami, hindi siya marami narereach na students. Siguro nasesend namin siya sa group chats pero no guarantee na every student makikita yung sinesend halimbawa sa amin sa psych, sinend ko yung first dialogue with finance noong july pero up until now kahit na sinend ko sa kanila hindi nila nabasa yung post namin sa social media so for us that’s also alarming kase hindi ganun kalaki din yung reach ng socmed namin kaya for us din personally mas better na directly sa emails ng mga students para direct din yung reach ng advisory sa kanila,” Psychology Senator and Senate President, Kodi Cabacang explained.
According to the LSC, they collected student feedback to ensure that the fees paid reflected the quality of education and academic environment deserved. Letters detailing these concerns were sent to deans and program chairpersons, with the aim of making them visible to students.
Despite plans for a dialogue in April to address additional issues, the synchronous classes and requests from the DSA to reschedule hindered this.
“Possible pa rin naman na macoconduct namin yung dialogue with deans para kahit papano is ma-ask namin “if may progress ba?” or nagkaroon ba ng [progress] regarding this because there are deans din and other program chairs na hindi pa rin nagre-respond sa mga emails namin,” The SC President stated.
“...dapat maging aware tayo na i-take natin ng action yung mga ganitong bagay so hoping by this April is matuloy yung dialogue namin with them para kahit papano makita ng estudyante na worth it yung binayaran namin, nakikita namin nagkakaron ng improvement which is for our academics na rin and sa mga facilities na ginagamit ng Letran,” Cansancio added.
The LSC is set to conduct the second session of their TINDIG: A Student’s Forum and Advisory Network on April 2 at the Mabini Hall with student representatives to further address complaints and urgent issues affecting Letranites.