FEF bucks P8.3-billion allocation for CHED

MANILA, Philippines - The Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEF) is opposing the proposed P8.3-billion allocation to the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) for free tuition in state universities and colleges (SUCs), saying the move is anti-poor and can hurt private higher education institutions.

While it considers these pending bills in Congress as well-intended, the FEF believes free tuition in SUCs will provide unfair competition to private higher education institutions which cannot afford to offer free tuition.

“Providing P8.3 billion to SUCs for free tuition is anti-poor because it considers only tuition in the cost of higher education.  Tuition covers only one-third of the cost of attending college. The balance consists of cost of living allowances, which the poor are in no position to pay.  Higher income students who have the ability to pay for these living allowances will end up using the free tuition subsidy,” the group said.

Students from poor families constitute only a small proportion of SUCs’ student population because they can hardly pay for the full cost of attending college, which not only consists of tuition, but also board and lodging expenses, FEF said.

These students are also less prepared academically to pass the entrance exams and the academic requirements of four-year college courses, FEF added.

“Increasing the budget for free tuition will intensify the exodus of higher income students from private education  institutions toward SUCs and further worsen the proportion of poor students attending SUCs. Higher income students who are more academically prepared will capture the benefits of free college education,” the FEF said.

Instead, the group is proposing that the government put the money to implement the Unified Student Assistance System for Tertiary Education (UniFAST), which was enacted into law through Republic Act 10687.

The UniFAST Law unifies and rationalizes all modalities for student financial assistance, including scholarships, grants-in-aid and student loans.

The law does not favor SUCs over private higher educational institutions as the assistance is given to the student and not the school.

“Targeting the poor with full financing using grants-in-aid under the UniFAST law will clearly benefit more poor students than an untargeted general tuition subsidy for students of SUCs,” the FEF said.

The FEF, an advocacy organization for free market reforms, well-defined and secure property rights, consumer welfare and good governance, counts among its members former and present Cabinet secretaries and undersecretaries as well as those from business and finance.