By Alexandria San Juan
The Commission on Higher Education said that the implementation of its tertiary education subsidy (TES) is now in full swing, adding that more beneficiaries from private and public education institutions are being eyed to be included in the following academic years.
CHED Commissioner Prospero de Vera III
(RTVM / MANILA BULLETIN) CHED chairman Dr. Prospero De Vera III said that the implementation of the TES is now in full swing after the commission, through the Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education Act (UniFAST), inked a memorandum of agreement with private higher education institutions (HEIs). Following the signing ceremony held in Quezon City on Monday, selected students from 380 private institutions in Visayas and Mindanao, and 412 from Luzon are now granted the TES under the Republic Act 10931 or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act. "This has been the most difficult part in implementing the RA 10931 because the law and the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) required a lot of very lengthy discussions and very detailed IRR to make sure that we protect public funds, that we give TES only to students who really deserve it and to make sure that when the money is given to both public and private universities, it can quickly transfer immediately to the beneficiaries of TES," De Vera said in during the whole-day event. According to De Vera, out of the 300,000 slots that were provided in the 2018 General Appropriations Act, wherein P16 billion fund was allotted, 13,760 of the beneficiaries are Expanded Students' Grants-in-Aid Program for Poverty Alleviation (ESGP-PA) scholars that were previously under the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). De Vera said these are poor but deserving children of indigent families including children of DSWD's Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps beneficiaries. Meanwhile, De Vera added that the bulk of TES beneficiaries is in the "Listahanan" which was also provided by the DSWD. These include a total of 151,819 beneficiaries, wherein 103,373 are from public universities while 48,436 are grantees from private universities. The third category of grantees are the 80,196 students in private universities among cities and municipalities where there are no state universities and colleges (SUCs) or local universities and colleges (LUCs.) The CHED chairman added that there are at least 30,000 slots to be filled up by student-beneficiaries mostly from private universities as they continue to validate the application. While a big component of TES is going to private universities, De Vera said that the earlier activity is "very critical" as they are signing an agreement with private universities to be the legal basis of the transfer of public funds to them so their students will become beneficiaries. From the 13,000 ESGP-PA scholars before, De Vera said they have increased the number of beneficiaries to 300,000 through TES. "That's a lot of new beneficiaries. That's a lot of happy students. What we are going to address now are the students who have problems and we will see how we can collect it legally or administratively with the DSWD. From the 300,000 beneficiaries this year, De Vera said they are expecting to increase it to 400,000 in the coming academic year. "It depends to the UniFAST board, maybe we can increase it to 400,000. It depends on how much budget will be approved," he added. He explained that while there will be fourth year students who will graduate at the end of the academic year, there are still many freshmen that will enter and even more private universities who now know that their students are qualified and will apply next year. "That's why the UniFAST board has to, maybe over the long term, may look into an allocation pattern instead of everyone just applying. We hope that the private universities will see this as a social mission to help students and that the allocation pattern will be adapted," De Vera added. Based on the law, TES beneficiaries were provided free tuition and other school fees for private HEIs, other educational expenses, and special expenses, if any. Under TES, eligible grantees are undergraduate students enrolled in SUCs, CHED-recognized LUCs, quality-assured private HEIs, and technical-vocational institutions (TVIs).
CHED Commissioner Prospero de Vera III(RTVM / MANILA BULLETIN) CHED chairman Dr. Prospero De Vera III said that the implementation of the TES is now in full swing after the commission, through the Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education Act (UniFAST), inked a memorandum of agreement with private higher education institutions (HEIs). Following the signing ceremony held in Quezon City on Monday, selected students from 380 private institutions in Visayas and Mindanao, and 412 from Luzon are now granted the TES under the Republic Act 10931 or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act. "This has been the most difficult part in implementing the RA 10931 because the law and the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) required a lot of very lengthy discussions and very detailed IRR to make sure that we protect public funds, that we give TES only to students who really deserve it and to make sure that when the money is given to both public and private universities, it can quickly transfer immediately to the beneficiaries of TES," De Vera said in during the whole-day event. According to De Vera, out of the 300,000 slots that were provided in the 2018 General Appropriations Act, wherein P16 billion fund was allotted, 13,760 of the beneficiaries are Expanded Students' Grants-in-Aid Program for Poverty Alleviation (ESGP-PA) scholars that were previously under the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). De Vera said these are poor but deserving children of indigent families including children of DSWD's Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps beneficiaries. Meanwhile, De Vera added that the bulk of TES beneficiaries is in the "Listahanan" which was also provided by the DSWD. These include a total of 151,819 beneficiaries, wherein 103,373 are from public universities while 48,436 are grantees from private universities. The third category of grantees are the 80,196 students in private universities among cities and municipalities where there are no state universities and colleges (SUCs) or local universities and colleges (LUCs.) The CHED chairman added that there are at least 30,000 slots to be filled up by student-beneficiaries mostly from private universities as they continue to validate the application. While a big component of TES is going to private universities, De Vera said that the earlier activity is "very critical" as they are signing an agreement with private universities to be the legal basis of the transfer of public funds to them so their students will become beneficiaries. From the 13,000 ESGP-PA scholars before, De Vera said they have increased the number of beneficiaries to 300,000 through TES. "That's a lot of new beneficiaries. That's a lot of happy students. What we are going to address now are the students who have problems and we will see how we can collect it legally or administratively with the DSWD. From the 300,000 beneficiaries this year, De Vera said they are expecting to increase it to 400,000 in the coming academic year. "It depends to the UniFAST board, maybe we can increase it to 400,000. It depends on how much budget will be approved," he added. He explained that while there will be fourth year students who will graduate at the end of the academic year, there are still many freshmen that will enter and even more private universities who now know that their students are qualified and will apply next year. "That's why the UniFAST board has to, maybe over the long term, may look into an allocation pattern instead of everyone just applying. We hope that the private universities will see this as a social mission to help students and that the allocation pattern will be adapted," De Vera added. Based on the law, TES beneficiaries were provided free tuition and other school fees for private HEIs, other educational expenses, and special expenses, if any. Under TES, eligible grantees are undergraduate students enrolled in SUCs, CHED-recognized LUCs, quality-assured private HEIs, and technical-vocational institutions (TVIs).