New law may change SUCs’ school calendar

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) yesterday underscored the need for state universities and colleges (SUCs) to change their academic calendars by 2020 to avert a “practical administrative problem” for the commission as it seeks to comply with the cash-based budgeting system being implemented by the government.

CHED chairman J. Prospero de Vera III said the system would particularly cause administrative problems for the commission as it undertakes the ambitious P41-billion Republic Act (RA) 10931 or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act that will feature the Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education (UniFAST) starting academic year 2019-2020.

RA 10931 had provided for free higher education which covers tuition and miscellaneous fees as well as stipend for almost 300,000 poor but deserving students.

Under the program, the government will reimburse SUCs and higher education institutions (HEIs) which, in turn, will waive fees for the beneficiary students.

“Some schools now start in August, some start in June. So the problem is for the universities that start in June,” De Vera said at a media briefing yesterday.

“Because they have to apply for reimbursement of their tuition and miscellaneous fees. The second semester of universities that start in June is from November to March. So, if we adopt cash-based budgeting, and you can pay only for your obligations until Dec. 31, there’s a practical administrative problem for UniFAST and CHED,” he elaborated.