TL;DR: Metro Manila College (MMC) is the oldest private tertiary school in Novaliches, Quezon City, founded in 1947 as Novaliches Academy and renamed in 1977. It offers Accountancy, Business Administration, Criminology, Education, Entrepreneurship, Psychology, and Tourism degrees on a 3.5-hectare campus. MMC does not publish official tuition rates, but CourseFinder PH lists a per-semester tuition fee of ₱24,000 for several of its programs, well below Metro Manila's private-university average.
Introduction
Metro Manila College keeps showing up in searches for its tuition fee per semester, but the school has no dedicated, detailed writeup online and does not publish a fee schedule on its own site. That gap is exactly what this guide fills: a straight rundown of what MMC actually is, what it has offered since 1947, what programs it currently runs, and what tuition figures actually exist in public course directories, without inventing numbers the school has not confirmed.
If you grew up in Novaliches or Caloocan, chances are someone in your family already studied here. MMC has been the area's default affordable college option for generations, which is also why exact, current tuition figures are harder to pin down online than for bigger-name universities with active PR departments.
What Is Metro Manila College?
Metro Manila College is a private, non-sectarian educational institution in Barangay Kaligayahan, Novaliches, Quezon City. It began in March 1947 as Novaliches Academy, founded by Dr. Mamerto S. Miranda, a USAFFE veteran, and his wife Dr. Ligaya M. Miranda, to give local families a secondary school option without sending children to distant Caloocan or Manila. The school opened with 14 students at Plaza Novaliches-Bayan, according to Philippine News Agency coverage of its 75th anniversary.
As enrollment grew, the school added tertiary courses and was renamed Metro Manila College in 1977, becoming the first private school in Novaliches to offer college-level education. It later moved to its current 3.5-hectare campus in Barangay Kaligayahan, known as U-Site, where it still operates today. MMC states its mission is being "committed to the holistic development of the learner," aiming to produce graduates who are "morally upright, humane, responsible, globally competitive and productive members of society."
What Programs Does Metro Manila College Offer?
MMC runs a full pre-school-to-graduate-studies pipeline. At the college level, its own website organizes programs under seven colleges plus a technical-vocational department:
| College/Department | Focus |
|---|---|
| College of Accountancy | Accounting and finance |
| College of Business Administration and Management | Business, management |
| College of Criminology | Criminology, law enforcement |
| College of Education | Elementary and secondary education (BEEd, BSEd) |
| College of Entrepreneurship | Entrepreneurship |
| College of Psychology | Psychology |
| College of Tourism | Tourism management |
| Technical Vocational Department | TESDA-aligned short courses |
| Graduate Studies | Master's-level programs |
Course directories such as CourseFinder PH list specific undergraduate programs including BS Business Administration, BS Criminology, Bachelor of Secondary Education, Bachelor of Elementary Education, and Bachelor of Science in Secretarial Administration. On the basic education side, MMC runs a full K-12 program, with Senior High School tracks reported to include Accountancy, Business, and Management (ABM), Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS), General Academic Strand (GAS), and Information and Communications Technology (ICT), per third-party school-guide coverage; confirm current track offerings directly with the school since we could not verify this list on MMC's own site.
How Much Is Metro Manila College Tuition Fee Per Semester?
Tuition and fees change per school year — always confirm current figures with MMC's registrar before enrolling.
MMC does not publish a tuition schedule on its official website, so there is no single confirmed, school-issued number to quote. The most specific figures we could find come from CourseFinder PH, a third-party course-comparison directory: it lists a tuition fee of ₱24,000 per semester for several MMC undergraduate programs, including BS Business Administration, BS Criminology, and Bachelor of Secondary Education (major in Social Science), all listed under a standard semester term structure. The same directory shows a university-wide "average tuition fee" badge of ₱55,000, which likely reflects a different aggregation, possibly annual totals or figures blended with pricier or newer programs, rather than a single per-semester constant.
Given the ₱24,000-per-semester figure that recurs across multiple MMC program listings on CourseFinder PH, that number is a reasonable estimate for MMC's base tuition, well below the ₱30,000-₱50,000 per semester typical of comparable private colleges in Quezon City. Miscellaneous, laboratory, and registration fees are charged on top of tuition and are not included in that figure. Because this comes from an aggregator rather than MMC's own registrar, treat it as a starting estimate and get the school's official assessment for your specific program and year level before enrolling.
Tuition Fee Comparison: MMC vs. Other Quezon City Private Colleges
| School | Reported Tuition (per semester) | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Metro Manila College | ~₱24,000 (select programs) | CourseFinder PH listing |
| Typical small CHED-accredited college (Metro Manila) | ₱8,000-₱20,000 | Course-comparison aggregators |
| Mid-range private university (Metro Manila) | ₱25,000-₱45,000 | Published school fee schedules |
Is Metro Manila College Accredited?
MMC's own about page states it holds Level 3 accreditation from ACSCU-ACI (Association of Christian Schools, Colleges and Universities - Accrediting Agency, Inc.) and cites international accreditation from the Royal Institution-Singapore. The school's website also displays recognition logos from DepEd, CHED, PRC, and TESDA, covering its basic education, college, licensure-related, and technical-vocational programs respectively. MMC's about page separately states it has been "recognized by the Professional Regulation Commission as a top Criminology Program school nationally," though we were not able to independently verify a specific passing-rate figure against PRC's published school-performance data, so treat that framing as the school's own claim rather than a confirmed statistic.
What Makes the Campus Notable?
Beyond classrooms, MMC's Kaligayahan campus is home to a centennial duhat tree renamed the "Katipunan Tree" in 1980, honoring Andres Bonifacio and Melchora Aquino. The school also runs the Gawad Metronian Educational Foundation Inc., established in 2014, which supports the education of marginalized youth in the Novaliches area, according to Philippine News Agency coverage of the foundation's work.
How to Decide If Metro Manila College Is the Right Fit
- Check the program against your career path. MMC's strongest, longest-running programs are Education and Criminology; newer or less common courses may have thinner facilities or faculty depth, so ask about specific program details.
- Confirm the real, all-in cost. Get a full written assessment from the registrar covering tuition plus miscellaneous, laboratory, and other fees, since the published aggregator figures do not capture the full bill.
- Weigh location convenience. If you live in Novaliches or Caloocan, MMC's local campus can save significantly on transportation and dorm costs compared to commuting to universities in Manila or Quezon City proper.
- Ask about board exam performance directly. For licensure programs like Criminology or Education, request the school's most recent PRC passing-rate data rather than relying on general claims.
Ready to find the right school? Browse schools in Quezon City, or compare tuition and reviews across hundreds of Philippine schools on SchoolFinderPH. For more budget-focused options, see our guides to affordable colleges in the Philippines and low tuition colleges in Manila.
Sources
- Metro Manila College - Official Website
- Metro Manila College - About
- PIA: MMC, Novaliches' pioneer tertiary school marks 75th anniversary
- CourseFinder PH - Metro Manila College
- CourseFinder PH - Metro Manila College Undergraduate Courses
- Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities - Metro Manila College
