IT students to still pay CoScLab fee

After the Office of the University Registrar (OUR) overlooked the inclusion of CoScLab fee in the Information Technology (IT) students’ tuition during enrollment, the IT students still have to pay the CoScLab fee.

According to the University Student Council (USC)’s official Facebook post on July 4, the OUR will provide a four percent rebate on the fully paid tuition of the IT students after the OUR overlooked the inclusion of the CoScLab fee to the students’ tuition during the enrollment period.

The CoScLab fee amounted to an additional fee of P4,478 that was added after enrollment period.

During the enrollment period, DLSU-D students who paid in full for their tuition are automatically granted a specific percentage discount unlike students who paid in partial amount. In the case of the IT students, a 4 percent rebate will be granted if they paid in full at the time that the CoScLab fee was not yet included in their tuition.

According to the HERALDO FILIPINO’s interview with an administration official at Counter 12, a four percent rebate, which totals to approximately P733.284, will be granted to fully paid IT students in order for them to not pay the full CoScLab fee of P4,478.00. However, the said P733.284 will be deducted from the CoScLab fee of P4,478.00, requiring fully paid IT students to still pay the remaining unsettled fee of P3,744.716.

On the other hand, IT students who are not paid in full are the only students exempted from the effect of three percent surcharge fee starting July 4, given that their only remaining unsettled fee is the CoScLab fee.

CoScLab fee

The CoScLab fee covers the IT students’ use of the facility at the Information and Communications Technology Center (ICTC) during the course of their summer term AY 2016-2017.

After the issue concerning the CoScLab fee reached concerned students, some IT students turned to Facebook to express their dismay while others went directly to OUR to raise their concerns.

Incoming fourth year IT student Christian Mateo claimed that according to his inquiry at Counter 12, the reason for the delayed notice was because the administration was still conducting meetings regarding the approval of the CoScLab fee at that time.

 

The students’ side

In the midst of the summer term, some IT students were surprised and dismayed after finding out about the sudden additional fee at a later date without any prior announcement or notice from the administration.

Also an incoming fourth year IT student, Carl Rivera, said that they only came to know about the sudden increase on June 30, two weeks after enrollment and four days before the three percent surcharge fee was supposed to take effect.

In an online interview with the HERALDO FILIPINO, Rivera explained, “Hindi po siya (CoScLab fee) in-announced sa’min or na-informed man lang sa students. If hindi pa nagpa-assess ‘yong mga students, ‘di pa nila malalaman na may dumagdag palang ganoong fee sa tuition.”

Second time around

Surprisingly, Mateo revealed that this is not the first time that a sudden additional tuition occurred for IT students, as the “same scenario” also happened last AY.

According to the administration official at Counter 12, IT students who enrolled in the summer term AY 2015-2016 who took subjects with course codes “TRAK101s” and “TRAK102s” also had an unsettled fee of P2,239 due to the same reason of OUR overlooking the inclusion of the fee into the total tuition of IT students.

Aside from what Rivera mentioned, Mateo added that due to the P4,478 CoScLab fee, their (IT students) tuition rose from P22,272.10 to P26,750.10.

However, it is not just the CoScLab fee that IT students have started to raise concerns about. They also pointed out some defective equipment at the ICTC laboratory rooms, such as the mouses and keyboards.

As of press time, the HERALDO FILIPINO is seeking a statement from the administration for further explanations regarding the delay of the CoScLab fee’s inclusion in the IT students’ tuition.