AS students, they learned and graduated. Now, it is time to teach them another lesson.
The Commission on Audit has recommended that President Ramon Magsaysay State University (PRMSU) consider filing cases against former graduates who continue to ignore reminders for them to settle their unpaid school fees.
Based on the 2023 audit report of PRMSU, a state university located in Iba, Zambales, it has been having difficulties collecting unpaid tuition and other fees from former students despite instituting new policies to prevent account receivables from growing.
From just P21.7 million in 2018, the COA noted that the unsettled obligations of former students have ballooned by 167.96 percent in the last five years to P58.15 million as of yearend 2023.
The non-payment of the accounts continues to deprive the state university of additional funds it could have used to improve facilities and support more programs and projects.
Auditors noted that the unpaid accounts were supposed to be collected from old students who were enrolled before the implementation of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Joint Circular No. 2017-1A that granted free tuition in all state universities and colleges, and students of PRMSU’s Graduate Programs, College of Law, and Continuing Professional Education, as well as undergraduate student who do not qualify for the free college education program.
The management had made efforts to keep unpaid fees from going up by requiring all students to secure clearances before enrolment while graduate school students were told to secure examination permits.
“It may be noted that the long outstanding balances pertained to the unpaid accounts of students in the Graduate School, College of Law, and Continuing Professional Education who are most likely capable of paying their accounts,” the audit team pointed out.
Auditors did not discount the possibility that the PRMSU management is partly responsible for the problem due to its failure to follow up and monitor the unpaid accounts and poor record keeping.
They noted that the university has automated records by using the Student Information and Accounting System (SIAS) which was supposed to speed up extracting a system-generated report but accounting personnel complained of weak internet connection.
The audit team said a system-generated report can be used to reconcile data in the event of a system failure and to monitor and notify former students with overdue accounts by posting a list on the official university website.
It recommended that the PRMSU intensify collection efforts to recover long outstanding receivables from former students, including sending out demand letters to those who have already graduated.
However, if such reminders prove futile or if the graduates ignore the letters, the COA said the university should apply the “rule of procedure for small claims cases to enforce the settlement of accounts.”
