Only 40 percent of Filipino high-school graduates have the financial capability to proceed to college, a problem that is hurting the country’s chances of achieving sustainable growth, House Assistant Majority Leader and Nacionalista Party Rep. Gerald Anthony Gullas Jr. of Cebu said.
This, he said, is why he backed the appropriation of up to P11 billion to jump-start more public-funded college scholarships, grants-in-aid, study-now-pay-later plans and low-cost student loans under the proposed Unified Financial Assistance System for Higher and Technical Education (UniFAST).
The Senate is set to approve on second reading the UniFAST bill in May, which the House previously passed on third and final reading.
“We support the proposal of the Senate to earmark fresh funding for all forms of government-sponsored financial-aid programs for college students from marginal households,” said Gullas, vice chairman of the House Committee on Higher and Technical Education.
“We have to produce more college graduates in the years ahead if we are to promote full employment and
assure more families a rising standard of living, as mandated by the 1987 Constitution,” the lawmaker added. The measure seeks to boost the distribution of scholarships and other forms of financial assistance to needy college students.
Under the bill, the delivery of the aid will be reinforced via the improved targeting of recipients and unified standards for selection and retention.
The national government is spending some P7.7 billion for post-secondary scholarships this year.
The country’s 112 state universities and colleges have a combined P3.5-billion budget available for scholarships, while the Commission on Higher Education has P2.2 billion for student-financial aid.
Meanwhile, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority has P2 billion for its Training for Work Scholarship Program.
Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz