Discounts for poor college students sought

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara has called for the grant of discounts on basic goods and services for  poor students in college or technical-vocational schools to help them finish their education.

Angara filed Senate Bill 60, which seeks a five percent discount on food, medicine, textbooks and school supplies as well as tuition and other school fees of poor students.

“Not all deserving and underprivileged students who were able to get scholarships, grants or loans finish their education because they lack the financial capacity to spend for their basic needs and other expenses related to their schooling,” he said.

“We want to ease the economic difficulties of most of our less-fortunate families. To help them cope with the high cost of education and daily school expenses by granting various discounts to underprivileged students, we came up with this proposal,” he added.

Under the bill, underprivileged students are those whose families earn a gross annual income of not more than P100,000.

The Commission on Higher Education and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority would be in charge of determining the qualified beneficiaries under Angara’s proposal.

Tax incentives would be granted to establishments that will give discounts, which in turn would be treated as allowable deductions from their gross income.

The grant of the discount would be stopped if the student fails the majority of his academic subjects in one semester, fails to graduate within two years from the time he is supposed to graduate, drops out after one semester and if convicted of any crime.

“If passed into law, this Senate bill will definitely encourage students from financially struggling families to pursue their dreams by finishing their college education or their vocational trainings,” Angara said.