By Bobet Prudente
I remember 39 years ago, when I first enrolled at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City. I was a full scholar and didn’t have to pay for tuition fee, but we were still assessed. And our typical assessment was about P300 tuition and fees for the entire semester. Not P300 per unit, it was about P300 for the entire semester.

The Oblation at the University of the Phillipines in Diliman, Quezon City.
By Rinangel Buenavente, Crispin Sta. Ines [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Let us do the math.
* P300 x 10 = P3,000
* P300 x 100 = P30,000
In my lifetime, in 39 years, the tuition fee in my school increased 100 times, or about a compounded rate of 12.5% every year.
How much would YOU pay for YOUR children’s college education?
Most of you will be sending kids to college in less than 15 years, so maybe you will not pay 100x, but perhaps 8x to 10x what YOU paid when you were in college?
I talked to a seminar attendee a few weeks ago, and asked him how much he paid in college. He said, P15,000 tuition fee per semester.
Let us do the math again:
- in 15 years, maybe tuition will increase only eight times.
- P15,000 x 8 = P90,000 in one semester
- P90,000 x 8 semesters = P720,000
And that is just for tuition. How about other school fees, transportation, allowance?
Let us say you spend another P280,000, and the cost of sending one child to college is P1,000,000.
If the basis is P30,000 (like what I paid in UP Diliman), the cost of sending one child to college in 15 years, will probably be P2,000,000
If you have two children, that is P2,000,000 to P4,000,000 you’ll be spending in 15 years. Are you preparing to send your children to college?
Are you saving and investing so you’ll have an extra two to four million pesos in 15 years? Are you saving enough, so you’ll have some money left over for your retirement?
Would you like learn ways to increase your cashflow, save and invest, so that you can send your children to college?
IMG launched a new seminar “Building Your Future” in January 2016 to help Filipino families achieve financial freedom through financial education, saving and investing. Our goal is to have 1 million financially educated families by 2020 ( hashtag #1M2020 )
Would you like to attend our free 1-hour “Building Your Future – Controlling Your Money” seminar in various locations, to get financial education?
- In Makati ( World Centre Building, Sen. Gil Puyat Ave, Makati) http://bit.ly/seminarmkt
- In Quezon City ( JIAO Bldg, at Timog Ave corner Quezon Ave, QC) http://bit.ly/seminarqc
- In Calamba Laguna ( Margimel Bldg, in Brgy Halang, Calamba City) http://bit.ly/seminarcalamba
- In Dasmarinas Cavite ( GGG Bldg, in Camerino Ave. Dasmarinas City) http://bit.ly/seminardasmarinas
Would you like to take charge of your children’s future?
#1M2020