2 schools get funds for ‘free tuition’

BACOLOD City – A state college and a state university in Negros Occidental will get some P94 million in free tuition allocations for academic year 2017-2018 under the Higher Education Support Fund (HESF).

The Carlos Hilado Memorial State College in Talisay City and its three extension schools were allocated P52 million, data from the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) showed.

The Central Philippines State University in Kabankalan City, which has nine extension campuses, will get P42 million.

CHED-Negros Island Region director Freddie Bernal said the schools determined how much funds were needed to shoulder the students’ tuition but clarified that “financially disadvantaged but academically able” students will be prioritized.

The schools will not collect tuition from the students but would charge their fees to the CHED through the HESF, Bernal said.

The student-beneficiaries will still have to pay miscellaneous fees.

The CH ED and the Department of Budget and Management issued the joint implementing guidelines for the use of the HESF included in the 2017 General Appropriations Act.

They said the free tuition program would cover “all Filipino students enrolling in undergraduate course programs in SUCs (state universities and colleges) for the academic year 2017-2018, subject to the prioritization directive of the president and the availability of funds in the HESF.”

Priority will be given to existing beneficiaries of the government’s Student Financial Assistance Programs, or STUFAP.

The tuition of students receiving more than P15,000 in benefits will be charged against their STUFAP allocations, while for those with tuition of P15,000 or less, their fees will be charged to the free tuition allocation. (