By Pearl Gumapos
Nearly 1.6 million students are no longer paying tuition and miscellaneous fees, thanks to the government’s Free Higher Education Program implemented through Republic Act No. 10931 or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education.
RA 10931 provides for free tuition and exemption from other fees in state universities and colleges (SUCs), local universities and colleges (LUCs) in the Philippines.
It ensures a full government subsidy for students who intend to earn tertiary or technical-vocational education.
This law was signed by President Rodrigo Duterte on August 3, 2017.
“Sa Free Higher Education Program, close to 1.6 million students are no longer paying tuition and miscellaneous fees. The breakdown of that is about 1.3 million in the 112 state universities and colleges. And about 300,000 in the local universities and colleges,” Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Chairperson Prospero de Vera said during a virtual press conference.
For the academic year 2020 to 2021, 500,000 slots for the tertiary education subsidy were opened which is a 100% increase from the original 200,000 slots when the RA 10931 was first passed.
There were also 300,000 Tulong Dunong beneficiaries as well as agricultural scholarships offered by the Department of Agriculture (DA).
“Hindi pa diyan kasama iyong scholarships ng DOST. So kapag tinotal mo lahat iyan, lagpas dalawang milyong estudyante ang natutulungan ng gobyerno ngayon,” de Vera said.
“I don’t think that has ever happened in our history, that more than two million students are being assisted by our government financially. And that is the basis for CHED claiming victory for Philippine higher education,” de Vera added. -rir
