Free tuition for undergrad programs of state universities, colleges expected

University of the Philippines is one of the most prominent state universities in the Philippines (CDN PHOTO)

STUDENTS enrolled in state universities and colleges (SUC) in the country have something to smile about.

Tuition in the undergraduate programs of all SUC will soon be free after an additional P8.3-billion funding was granted to the Commission on Higher Education (CHed) for 2017.

CHed Chairperson Patricia Licuanan explained that the P8.3-billion supposedly intended for projects in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) has been reallocated to their agency.

“The intention is all state universities and colleges would no longer charge undergraduate tuition, so that P8 billion is supposed to cover undergraduate tuition in all state universities and colleges,” she said in an interview on ABS-CBN News Channel on Friday.

The P8.3-billion, she said, is part of the P3.35-trillion Philippine national budget which was recently ratified by Congress.

Licuanan clarified that SUCs can still charge for other fees and graduate school tuition.

She, however, could not yet give a lot of details about the free tuition policy since they are still working on the guidelines on how it will be implemented.

“I guess that is the P8-billion question, but we will have to find a formula for this,” she said.

“But right now the all SUCs are going to be asked or instructed not to collect tuition so we have to distribute this to all as well,” she added.

Eventually, Licuanan said CHed hopes to eventually come up with a formula that would prioritize the needy.

“Free tuition will help tremendously. It will free, I guess, resources of families and students for the other costs… because there are other costs to getting a college education,” she said.

Daisy Palompon, the officer in charge of the Cebu Normal University’s Office of the President, said they just have to wait for instructions from CHed.

“As of this time, it is not clear as to how the implementation of this program will be done. We are still on a wait-and-see situation. If we are going to react, we don’t know yet the implementing guidelines on this one,” she told CDN.

Palompon said a team from CHed earlier visited CNU to study and gather feedback on the possibility of giving free tuition for the students.

“Of course, this is a very good opportunity for our students, especially those who can’t pursue college,” she said.

“On the part of SUCs, who is going to pay for the tuition in behalf of the students? How will the scheme of the payment be considering the fact that SUCs are not only hiring regular faculty, but also part-time faculty members, and our tuition fee is the one being used for payment of honoraria for part-time teachers?” she added.

Palompon said further studies and consultations should be made before the free tuition fees for students at SUCs will be implemented.

“If that will soon be mandated by government, we can’t do anything about it,” she said.

Aside from CNU, the other SUC in Cebu is the Cebu Technological University. When sought for comment, a representative of the school said they were still drafting their statement on the issue.