IRR for free college tuition law out next month, says CHED

The implementing rules and regulations (IRR) for the law mandating free tuition in state universities and colleges (SUCs) will be out next month, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) said Thursday.

CHED chairperson Patricia Licuanan said this during the Senate finance subcommittee’s budget hearing on her agency. CHED has proposed a budget of P12.4 billion for 2018.

“Historically, we know it was signed in August,” Licuanan said, referring to Republic Act No. 10931 or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act.

“Since then, a technical working group has been consulting and working with the DBM (Department of Budget and Management) and other stakeholders…We expect that in October, there will be a formal approval of the IRR by the UNIFAST Board,” Licuanan told the committee.

Licuanan said some P51.4 billion is needed to fund the law. “Maybe you can start looking [for funds],” she told the subcommittee.

She said the budget will fund free tuition in all SUCs, 18 local universities and colleges, and tech-voc schools; tertiary education subsidy; and the national student loan program.

The breakdown, Licuanan told the subcommittee, is as follows: P22.6 billion for free tuition and other school fees, P7 billion for tech-voc education, P21.6 billion for tertiary education subsidy, P.05 billion for the national student loan program, and P100 million for administrative costs.

Senator Sonny Angara, chairman of the subcommittee and one of the authors of the free college tuition law, asked Licuanan to “speed up the process” of approving the IRR as the consultations for the approval of the 2018 budget are already ongoing in Congress. 

Angara also questioned Licuanan why the P8.3-billion allocation that previously covered tuition in SUCs in 2017 was removed in the 2018 budget.

The allocation was moved by the Senate to the CHED, after the amount was questioned as a pork-like insertion.

“Why was the P8 billion not appropriated this year, knowing you will have first year students? Did you assume that they are all going to fail or drop out?” Angara said.

Licuanan explained that the CHED had already expected the passage of the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act. —KBK/KG, GMA News