THE Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has released P9.753 billion to the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to cover funding deficiencies in the Free Higher Education Program (FHEP) of 108 state universities and colleges (SUCs).
The budget release reinforced the Marcos administration’s commitment to sustain access to quality tertiary education, the DBM said.
The amount covered academic years 2022–2023, 2023–2024, and 2024–2025.
DBM Acting Secretary Kim Robert De Leon said the release was in line with the directive of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to keep education among the government’s priorities, even as the administration balances competing demands for limited fiscal resources.
“Every peso in the national budget has competing demands. Our responsibility is to make sure that limited government resources are directed where they are most needed, without compromising other equally important programs and services,” he said on Sunday.
CHED, through the Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education (UniFAST), should facilitate the corresponding release of funds to the concerned SUCs in accordance with the applicable guidelines.
The P9.753 billion will help settle FHEP costs that SUCs had previously absorbed using their available institutional resources.
De Leon said that by addressing these deficiencies, the government helps ease the financial pressure on SUCs and provides them greater fiscal space to support other lawful institutional priorities.
These may include strengthening academic and research programs, improving student services, upgrading laboratories, libraries and information technology resources, maintaining and improving learning facilities, supporting medical, dental, guidance, athletic and cultural services, and, subject to applicable budgeting, accounting and auditing rules and the availability of the appropriate funds, undertaking the rehabilitation, improvement or expansion of academic and other university facilities.
The Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act recognizes many of these services and facilities as integral in delivering quality higher education.
In a related development, Executive Secretary Ralph Recto said the Marcos administration would expand scholarships and educational assistance to enable more students to finish college and secure a better future.
Recto made the assurance to the beneficiaries of the Bagong Pilipinas Barangay Presidential Scholars Program (BPBPSP) during his visit to Cebu on Aug. 13.
He said that a student’s dream should not be cut short because of poverty.
“For the president, education is an investment in the bright future of every family and of the entire nation,” he said.
Under the program, five fourth-year college students in every barangay would be given P20,000 each in financial assistance to help them finish their studies.
Cebu City has 5,330 scholars under the program who come from 1,066 barangay (villages).
“The president has great trust in you, which is why you were chosen to be presidential scholars,” Recto told the presidential scholars.
Malacañang said 210,000 students from over 42,000 barangay around the country will benefit from the program this year.
Each barangay is allocated P200,000 from the Presidential Socio-Civic Projects Fund, of which P100,000 is earmarked for five presidential scholars.
The government also continues to expand various scholarship and educational assistance programs, including free basic education and free tuition in state universities and colleges, as well as scholarships for medicine, science, graduate studies, specialized courses, and other fields.
Recto said every student helped by the program would be “an investment not only in their own future, but also in their family and community.”
