Education is valued highly by Filipinos. It is viewed as a primary avenue for social and economic upliftment. Like food and other basic needs, a substantial amount is spent for education. In the 2003 FIES, education accounted for 4.0 percent of the total family expenditures of approximately P20 trillion in the said year.

Education expenditure rises in 2003

The total family expenditure for education in 2003 was estimated at P82.2 billion, higher by 8.5 percent from the 2000 education expenditure amounting to 75.7 billion. Of the total education expenditure, the largest share (P57.8 billion or 70.4 percent) was spent for education fees (including matriculation and tuition fees), followed by allowance for family member studying away from home (P14.0 billion or 17.0 percent). Other education expenditures went to purchases of books, P3.7 billion or 4.5 percent; school supplies, P5.9 billion or 7.2 percent; and other educational expenses, P821 million or 1.0 percent.

Adjusted for the 13.8 percent inflation rate from 2000 to 2003, total family expenditure for education in 2003 was estimated at P72.2 billion, lower by 4.7 percent than the 2000 figure.

NCR reports the highest family expenditure for education

The National Capital Region (NCR) had the highest disbursement for education, which accounted for 23.8 percent of total family expenditures for education in 2003. Other regions that registered more than ten percent share to family expenditure for education were Calabarzon (17.1%) and Central Luzon (12.3%). The combined shares to education expenditure of these three regions comprised more than half of the P82.2 billion total family expenditure for education of the country.

Among regions, NCR registered the highest family expenditure on education fees (27.8%), books (30.2%) and school supplies (18.5%). On the other hand, Calabarzon (11.8%) and Central Luzon (11.6%) spent highest for allowance for family member studying away from home.

TECHNICAL NOTES

The Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) is a nationwide survey of households undertaken every three years by the National Statistics Office. It is the main source of data on family income and expenditures which include, among others, levels of consumption by item of expenditure as well as sources of income in cash and in kind. The results of the FIES provide information on levels of living and disparities in income of Filipino families, as well as their spending patterns.

The 2003 FIES was conducted in two major field operations as a rider to the regular quarterly Labor Force Survey (LFS). The first major field operation was in July 2003 and gathered data for the period January 1 to June 30, 2003. The second field operation was in January 2004, which gathered information for the period July 1 to December 31, 2003. The 2003 FIES is the thirteenth in the series of FIES conducted since March 1957.

Starting July 2003 round of the LFS, the generation of the labor force and employment statistics has adopted the 2003 Master Sample (MS) Design. Using this new master sample design, the number of samples increased from 41,000 to around 51,000 sample households. FIES, as a rider to the LFS, also adopted this new MS design.

Expenditure items on education include matriculation and tuition fees, allowance for family member studying away from home, book expenses, school supplies (notebooks, pencils, ball pens, bond papers, etc.), other educational supplies (newspapers, magazines). These expenditure items on education were asked from households with members who are studying.
    

Source:    National Statistics Office
                  Manila, Philippines