When you were younger, you must have heard your parents say that education is the best gift that they can give to their child.
This statement rings true for many families in the country where poverty incidence is at 20.8%¹. That is why parents, regardless of the hardships and sacrifices that they need to undergo, are willing to make the effort to provide their children with quality education.
The reality, however, is that good-quality education can also be expensive. According to eCompareMo.com, the average tuition fee in private colleges and universities stands at P145,000 a year. With tuition fees increasing at 10% per annum, you can only imagine how high tuition fees can be 10 to 12 years from now.
Tuition fees are only the beginning. Parents have to take into account other miscellaneous expenses, such as books and school supplies, school activities, allowances, transportation and accommodation fees. For a child to complete elementary and secondary levels in a private educational institution, parents should be prepared to shell out at least PHP 1 million pesos, which, for most parents, is already a fortune.
It is therefore unsurprising that parents take at least a year to prepare for all these costs, and look for ways on how they can reduce their expenses, such as flexible payment terms and scholarship programs.