Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Wednesday urged the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to fast track the automation of reimbursing tuition and miscellaneous fees under the free college education law warning that failure to reimburse these fees soon will result in the schools’ absorption of deficiencies and the passing of costs to students in the years ahead.
Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts, and Culture, said fees form part of schools’ incomes and are used for operations.
The senator noted there are about 1.3 million beneficiaries of the free education law, or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act (Republic Act No. 10931), and 500,000 beneficiaries of the Tertiary Education Subsidy (TES).
The TES provides additional funding for education-related expenses such as books, transportation, board and lodging, and allowances for disability-related expenses among others.
According to Gatchalian, state universities and colleges (SUCs) and local universities and colleges (LUCs) must submit their billing and other documentary requirements to CHED before they are reimbursed for tuition and miscellaneous fees.
To date, there are 12 SUCs and LUCs that still have compliance issues. As per CHED, SUCs and LUCs cannot reimburse even if the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) releases the funds.
“We really need to finalize and fix this because it cannot be a recurring problem every year. The funds are badly needed by the SUCs and LUCs as we all know,” Gatchalian said.
“It can be done. I believe that technology can solve this problem but we have to act fast,” the senator said.