Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Sonny Angara has called for reforms in the implementation of the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act to ensure that only deserving and underprivileged students benefit from free college tuition subsidies.
According to Secretary Angara, it is crucial to adjust the law’s implementation as resources for basic education have become stretched due to the expansion of subsidies to higher education.
Angara pointed out that even students from the University of the Philippines (UP) are granted free tuition, despite many coming from affluent families.
As a UP alumnus himself, Angara emphasized that the government should not subsidize wealthy students, a practice that is currently being observed under the law’s present implementation.
He stressed that the government should focus on providing free college education to deserving students and prevent those who do not need financial assistance from benefiting, especially as the number of underprivileged students dropping out due to lack of funds continues to rise.
In 2023, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) reported that over 2 million students from state universities and colleges (SUCs) benefited from free tertiary education across 200 institutions nationwide.