The free college tuition law defined, explained
Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Officer-in-Charge J. Prospero De Vera III warned the public against ‘misconceptions’ and ‘false news’ regarding the free higher education law implemented this year.
In a Manila Bulletin interview, De Vera noted that it is very important for the stakeholders – students, parents, and higher education institutions (HEIs) to be fully informed about the Republic Act (RA) 10931 or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act (UAQTEA).
“There is a lot of misconception going out there, a lot of false news like those saying that universities and colleges [for] both public and private are free – that is very dangerous because that’s not true,” De Vera said.
On the other extreme, he noted that there are also news items saying that RA 10931 is “only for public universities”. Private universities, colleges
De Vera said that the private universities are seeking clarification on their part of the law.
“I tell them, you play a very important part role, because the there are other components of the law,” he added.
In particular, he noted that the private HEIs will play a major role in the implementation of the Tertiary Education Subsidy (TES) which is one of the components of RA 10931.
TES categories The TES or grants-in-aid prioritizes students who are existing beneficiaries of the CHED Expanded Student Grants-in-Aid Program for Poverty Alleviation (ESGP-PA), and students considered as poor based on the National Household Targeting System or Listahanan 2.0.
It will cover students in both private and publics HEIs and has three categories: TES 1 - which covers tuition and other school fees in private schools; TES 2 which covers living allowance and educational supplies and materials and TES 3 - which provides additional support for students with disabilities and / or those in courses required to undergo licensure exams. Components and options The UAQTEA, De Vera said, has other components which include the Free Higher Education, wherein the government will provide free tuition, miscellaneous and other similar or related fees to students admitted in 112 State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) and 78 CHEDrecognized Local Universities and Colleges (LUCs).
Another component is the provision of Free TechnicalVocational Education and Training (TVET) for those enrolled in state-run Technical Vocational Institutions (TVIs) and the last component is the national Student Loan Program (SLP).
De Vera noted that RA 10931 is all about options. “
What the law provides are options, what option you’ll take, that’s the decision of the student,” he added.
‘Falling short’
Meanwhile, youth activists criticized the Commission for the supposed shortcomings of the newly-signed free higher education law.
According to Kabataan Party-list Representative Sarah Elago, the UAQTEA covers only 1.3 million students when are 3.7 million students in total.
“Another 3 million are of college age but are out of school,” she added.
Carrying capacity
Earlier, De Vera acknowledged that while part of the intention of the RA 10931 is to make “higher education accessible to all Filipino students” it does not mean that “all of them can be accommodated by public HEIs.”
“I have been telling the SUCs and the LUCs in the past month not to unduly expand their enrollment because if they will do that, they will put into motion a lot of problems that will come later on,” De Vera said.
“If you have too many students, you will need classrooms, they will start demanding new faculty items – it’s never going to end…so they will have to base their enrollment on carrying capacity,” he said.