MANILA, Philippines — The head of the economic team of the Marcos administration is pushing for a review of free college education in state universities and colleges (SUCs), saying the program is “inefficient and wasteful.”
Referring to the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education (UAQTE) law enacted by the Duterte administration, of which he was a part, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno is proposing to revisit the free college education system.
Among other things, he is proposing a national examination to qualify for college subsidy.
“The core of my proposal to revisit the present free college education is how to optimally allocate resources funded largely by taxpayers for education,” Diokno told reporters over the weekend.
“The present regime is unwieldy, inefficient and wasteful. Government resources funded by taxpayers’ money, by nature, are finite,” he said.
However, nationalist organization Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT)-SUCs is opposing Diokno’s proposal, saying efforts “to scrimp” on tertiary education subsidy appear “contemptuous of our Filipino youth.”
In a statement, ACT-SUCs said Diokno’s statements saying the UAQTE program strains the national budget was alarming, as the budget for the program “only totals… 0.83 percent of the 2023 national budget,” which has granted free college schooling to over two million students in SUCs.
“How can that be seen as a waste of public funds?” said ACT-SUCs spokesman Carl Ramota.
Signed during the first year of the Duterte administration in 2017, the law exempts qualified college students enrolled in a bachelor’s degree, certificate degree or any comparable undergraduate degree from the burden of tuition and other school fees.
Diokno argued that an indicator of wastefulness is the rising dropout rate.
Recent data from the Commission on Higher Education showed that at least 40 percent of pandemic-era students either paused or stopped from attending school.
“Sec. Diokno seems to be totally out-of-touch, if not simply contemptuous, of our Filipino youth. Earlier, he said that the free higher education program only serves those who can pay, while now he is saying that many are dropping out because they are not committed enough to their studies,” Ramota added.
Ramota, a faculty regent of the University of the Philippines System, said the finance secretary needs to look deeply into how SUCs have been able to serve students who would have been out of school had it not been for the education program.
He said that the dropout rate in college is further proof that students “still struggle to finance expenses related to their studies despite having free tuition and other fees.”
Diokno’s proposal is a three-pronged approach with the first one aimed at strengthening the K to 12 Basic Education program.
The finance chief noted that the poor have a better chance of entering college and completing the same if they have a good foundation through the K to 12, which covers kindergarten and 12 years of basic education.
Started by the Aquino administration in 2012, the program targets to provide sufficient time for mastery of concepts and skills, develop lifelong learners, and prepare graduates for tertiary education, middle-level skills development, employment and entrepreneurship.
“That’s the key – excellent basic education. That should be our focus,” Diokno said.
“The other goal of the K to 12 program is to prepare the student for gainful employment or higher education. Many are not interested in going to college, they just want better jobs,” he said.
On the second approach, Diokno is pushing for a “filter” of those who should be entitled to free education through a nationwide test. Diokno said it should be based on what the national budget can afford every year.
“SUCs are not equal. Some are excellent, others good, some are barely adequate,” Diokno said. “The score of the examinee will determine which SUC and its campus he or she will be assigned. Theoretically, as a government scholar he is entitled to an amount of education voucher. He may refuse to enroll in an SUC assigned to him.”
Third, Diokno said the government should allow those who passed the nationwide exam and are entitled to free education to use their entitlement of a four-year voucher to enter or reject their assigned state university or choose a government accredited private university.
“Of course, the voucher will be released on an annual basis and will be based on satisfactory performance of the government scholar,” he said.
Ramota said, “We fully reject Sec. Diokno’s proposal to subject students to a nationwide exam to qualify for higher education subsidy on top of the entrance exams of colleges and universities, as this would only limit further the youth’s access to free college education.”
“More absurd is his proposal to let private colleges and universities partake in the free higher education funding, instead of supporting the public universities and colleges in improving education quality,” he added.
ACT-SUCs said Diokno should instead look into the P10 billion confidential and intelligence funding in the proposed 2024 budget, which they say “truly drains state coffers for nothing.”
“What direct benefits can our poverty-ridden people get from those funds?” Ramota said.
The finance chief maintained that his set of proposals “are not perfect, but they could immensely improve the allocation of scarce government resources.”
Based on the 2024 National Expenditure Program, the Marcos administration plans to allocate P105.6 billion to SUCs.
Specifically, some P21.7 billion will fund the free tertiary education of about 3.15 million students nationwide.
Overall, a total of P924.7 billion will fund the education sector next year, equivalent to 16 percent of the record P5.768 trillion 2024 budget. — Neil Jayson Servallos