IT’S FINAL: FREE TUITION IN STATE UNIVERSITIES

Government to shoulder tuition, miscellaneous and all other fees of students in SUCs and tech-voc schools.

President Rodrigo Duterte has signed into law the measure providing free tuition for students in state universities and colleges (SUCs), Malacañang said on Friday.

In a press conference, Senior Deputy Executive Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Duterte signed the bill titled “Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education” on Aug. 3, Thursday.

“Since many people have been waiting for the President’s action for the very important bill, which was passed by Congress last May, entitled Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education, I’m pleased to announce that last night, Aug. 3, 2017, the President signed into law the enrolled bill,” Guevarra said.

Under the newly-signed law, the government will shoulder the tuition, miscellaneous and all other fees of students in SUCs, local universities and colleges and state-run technical-vocational institutions.

Scholarship grants and an improved student loan program will also be granted to students of both public and private college and universities.

The measure, approved by Congress in May, reached the President’s table on July 5.

Duterte was earlier urged to veto the law. The measure will lapse into law on Aug. 5, if he does not act on it.

Guevarra said Duterte took time to decide because of the bill’s “heavy budgetary implication” but free tertiary education is “a very strong pillar or cornerstone of the President’s social development policy.”

Duterte’s economic managers recently expressed concern that the government could not afford to subsidize tuition in SUCs, which was estimated to amount to P100 billion.

Guevarra said Duterte’s meeting with his economic managers and several lawmakers on Tuesday night convinced him to pass the measure into law.

“So he (Duterte) weighed everything and came to the conclusion that the long-term benefits that will be derived from a well developed tertiary education on the part of the citizenry will definitely outweigh any short-term budgetary challenges,” he said.

Asked how the government would fund the program, Guevarra said the government might seek official development assistance.

Guevarra added that the government was also expecting that both local and international sectors would help in the first few years for the effective implementation of the law.

“Under the law itself, there are other sources of funding for this SUC free tuition program, and Official Development Assistance is one of possible sources,” he said.

“We are also hoping that donations both from the local and international sectors will come in to help us over time, especially in the first few years of the implementation of this program,” he added.