CHED releases TES stipend to 120,000 college students

Some 120,000 students enrolled from private colleges and universities are set to receive their stipends from the Tertiary Education Subsidy (TES) of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) as the country copes with the effects of the health crisis.

This was after the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has released 13.6 billion to cover the partial payment of TES stipends to students enrolled in 404 private higher education institutions for Academic Year 2019-2020.

“The Commission is instructing these 404 private schools to immediately coordinate with their grantees on the best way to distribute TES while following their respective local government quarantine rules,” CHED Chairman J. Prospero De Vera III said.

De Vera assured that the Commission will continue to roll out the TES grants to qualified beneficiaries in the remaining private schools as soon as more funds are released by the DBM.

The TES, which is a government grants-in-aid program, was made possible through Republic Act 10931 or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act.

Under the program, cash assistance amounting to 160,000 per school year is given to financially needy students in private schools, as well as to those studying in private schools in municipalities and cities without public universities.

Private universities are encouraged by CHED to shift to the new academic calendar and open their classes in August to prepare for the implementation of flexible learning.

The Commission also released earlier the subsidy funds to TES grantees in 51 state and local universities and colleges in the country amid the lockdown.

The TES is a flagship social development program of the administration on higher education which is used by students to pay their tuition and miscellaneous fees and other education expenses.