CHED: Noncompliance of 20 schools delaying release of tertiary education subsidy

The noncompliance of 20 private colleges and universities to billing requirements is delaying the processing and disbursement of the Tertiary Education Subsidy (TES) to 500 grantees, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) said Wednesday.

CHED and the Unified Student Financial Assistance System on Tertiary Education (UniFAST) said the 20 schools have had nine months to submit their billing requirements to the Private Education Assistance Committee (PEAC) but most of them are not responsive to follow-ups.

“The CHED and UniFAST staff have been reminding these higher education institutions (HEIs) to immediately comply with their billing submission requirements so their student-grantees can immediately receive the subsidy due in their last academic year especially now that classes for AY 2020-2021 have started,” CHED and UniFAST Board chairman Prospero De Vera said in a statement.

CHED said it is looking into possible sanctions for noncompliant schools, adding that “their students continue to suffer from their inaction.”

CHED said UniFAST has so far processed 91 percent of billing claims endorsed by PEAC for 234,436 grantees in 943 private schools.

TES grantees will receive P60,000 per academic year.

Students eligible for the TES grant are those who belong to the “Listahanan 2.0” of the Department of Social Welfare and Development as well as those who reside and study in private HEIs in areas where there is no existing public university or college.

In the previous academic year, 253,585 continuing and new beneficiaries from 1,247 private HEIs nationwide were found eligible to receive the TES grant.—Julia Mari Ornedo/LDF, GMA News