President Rodrigo Roa Duterte on Thursday, August 3, signed a landmark law providing free tertiary education in state universities and colleges (SUCs).
Republic Act (RA) No. 10931, also known as the “Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act,” has exempted qualified Filipino students from paying tuition and other school fees in pursuance of their bachelor’s degree or comparable undergraduate degree in any state or local universities and colleges (LUCs).
RA 10931 has also exempted from paying students currently enrolled or shall enroll in non-degree technical-vocational education and training offered by any technical-vocational institution (TVI) under the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
However, SUC and LUC students who have already attained a bachelor’s degree are not qualified to the free tertiary education. The same with those who failed to comply with the school’s admission policies and did not complete their undergraduate degree within a year after the prescribed period.
For state-run TVI, students are ineligible to free education if they have a bachelor’s degree or received a technical-vocational course diploma equivalent to at least National Certificate III, or failed in any course enrolled in during the course of the program.
RA 10931 has likewise established a tertiary education subsidy (TES) and student loan program for all Filipino students who will enroll in undergraduate post-secondary programs of SUCs, LUCs, TVIs, and private higher education institutions.
“The TES shall be administered by the UniFAST (Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education) Board and the amount necessary to fund the TES shall be included in the budgets of the CHED (Commission on Higher Education) and the TESDA,” the RA stated.
The TES may cover tuition and other school fees; allowances for books, supplies, transportation, and miscellaneous personal expenses; allowances for room and board costs; and allowance for expenses related to disability for students with disability.
For the student loan program, the same will be administered by the UniFAST Board. Payment of the loan amount will begin once the beneficiary secures gainful employment with income that reaches the Compulsory Repayment Threshold (CRT).
The amounts necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act shall be included in the General Appropriations Act (GAA), other sources of funding for the free tertiary education may come from official development assistance (ODA) and grants, donations, collections and other forms of assistance from local and international donors that may be tapped.
A joint congressional oversight committee, composed of five members each from the Senate and House of Representatives, is created to oversee, monitor, and evaluate the enforcement of RA 10931.###PCO-Content
You can download here a copy of RA No.10931
