SENATORS hailed Wednesday the Senate's approval of the bicameral conference committee report on the proposed Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act.
Senator Loren Legarda, co-sponsor of the bill, said that the measure institutionalizes the provision of full tuition fee subsidy for students enrolled in all of the country's state universities and colleges (SUCs), local universities and colleges (LUCs) and in state-run technical-vocational institutions.
Legarda said that the payment of tuition fees at State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) is one of the long-standing concerns of poor families.
After finishing high school in public schools, most have no means to pay for tuition fee in SUCs, Legarda said.
"We addressed this concern in the 2017 budget. Now, we are a step away from making it permanent," said Legarda, chairperson of the Senate committee on finance.
Under the bill, students in SUCs, LUCs, and state-run technical-vocational institutions are also exempt from paying other school fees such as admission fees, laboratory fees, computer fees, and the like.
Legarda further said that the passage of bill is a huge step towards ensuring universal access to education.
In the 2017 national budget, Congress provided for an additional P8 billion for Ched's Higher Education Support Fund and P300 million for Cash Grants to Medical Students enrolled in the country's SUCs offering the Doctor of Medicine Program.
The 2017 national budget also includes funding worth P5.7 billion for the Ched's Student Financial Assistance Programs (StuFAPs), which covers both the Regular StuFAPs such as its Scholarship Program, Grants in Aid Program and Student Loan Program and Other StuFAPs like the Tulong Dunong and the Iskolar ng Bayan Program.
For his part, Senator Paolo Benigno "Bam" Aquino, the principal sponsor and co-author of the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act in the Senate, said that students will benefit from the free education in state universities and colleges (SUCs) and local universities and colleges (LUCs) beginning the second semester of school year 2017-18.
"Napag-usapan sa bicam na it will be effective second semester ng school year 2017-2018 because by the time na ma-publish ito at maging batas, baka tapos na ang enrollment ng first semester," said
"We're hoping that by November or second semester, libre na ang tuition at iba pang bayarin sa ating SUCs," the senator added.
As one of its major salient points, the measure prohibits SUCs from collecting other fees from students, making tertiary education totally free for underprivileged students.
"Kapag napirmahan na ito bilang batas, magiging state policy na libre na ang tertiary level education pagdating sa SUCs at LUCs natin," said Aquino, who defended the measure in plenary debates and interpellation during his stint as chairman of the Senate committee on education.
If enacted into law, the bill will institutionalize free tuition and other fees in SUCs and LUCs all over the country, giving underprivileged students a chance to earn a college degree.
It will also make scholarship grants available to students of both public and private college and universities.
The final version of the measure has been ratified by the Senate on Tuesday. (VoxPop Philippines)