Bill waives college entrance exam fees for poor, honor students

MANILA, Philippines — Private higher education institutions (HEIs) will be mandated to waive college entrance examination fees to underprivileged graduating high school students and high school graduates belonging to the academic top 10 of their graduating class, if a bill filed in the Senate becomes law.

Sen. Bong Go filed Senate Bill 1708 that seeks to mandate HEIs to waive such fees “to help widen the opportunities of our underprivileged youth especially the best and the brightest.”

“Education is the only investment we need. It is also the key to a better future. Let’s give our good students the opportunity and incentive to get to college to lead them away from vices and help repay their parents who put them to school,” Go said in Filipino.

In the explanatory note of the measure, Go noted the 1987 Constitution provides that “the State shall protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality education at all levels and to take appropriate steps to make education accessible to all.”

He lamented, however, that through the years, the cost of quality education even in the application stage continues to rise, making it seemingly unaffordable to underprivileged students given their limited financial capacity.

This prompted him to file the proposed “Free College Entrance Examinations Act of 2023” providing the aforementioned benefit to underprivileged graduating high school students and high school graduates belonging to the academic top 10 of the graduating class who are applying for college admission.

Under the bill, a student will become eligible as beneficiary if he or she is a natural-born Filipino citizen and a graduating high school student or a high school graduate who belongs to the academic top ten of their graduating class and seeks to be admitted to a private higher education institution within the country.

The student must also belong to a family whose combined income falls below the poverty threshold, as determined by the National Economic and Development Authority and Department of Social Welfare and Development.

With the measure, Go is hoping for the expansion and further democratization of the access to quality college education in private higher education institutions.

“The exemption from the imposition of entrance examination fees is one such mechanism that shall give adequate assistance and equal opportunity to these students to pursue their dreams of obtaining a college education,” he said.

Last year, Go has also reintroduced SBN 1190 which seeks to expand the application of the Special Education Fund (SEF) to other needs of the public education system by amending Republic Act 7160 or the Local Government Code.

The measure provides for the expansion of the application of the additional one percent SEF tax to other items relating to education, such as the construction and repair of libraries, and payment of salaries, allowances and other benefits of teaching and non-teaching personnel.

According to Go, the proposed amendment will make the use of the fund less restrictive and allow LGUs to maximize their resources to adopt new education policies and learning techniques necessary at this time.