The Commission on Higher Education’s (CHED) Tertiary Education Subsidy (TES) program is under fire after data revealed that over 500,000 poor students have not received the much-needed college aid.

The Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) has flagged significant gaps in the subsidy’s reach and is calling for urgent amendments to Republic Act 10931 to ensure that the country’s poorest students can access higher education opportunities.

EDCOM 2, in a statement, raised serious concerns over CHED’s implementation of the TES program, highlighting that many graduates from Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) families are unable to access crucial college funding.

The findings were presented during a joint hearing of the House Committees on Basic and Higher Education on September 2, signaling a growing gap between the TES program’s objectives and its actual beneficiaries.

RA 10931, which established the TES program, aimed to provide financial assistance to underprivileged Filipino students pursuing higher education. However, data show a sharp decline in the share of the poorest beneficiaries.

In 2018, EDCOM 2 pointed out that 75 percent of TES recipients were from the poorest households, but by 2023, this fell to just 23 percent. Conversely, students in the PNSL category (those attending private institutions in areas without public colleges) increased from 26 percent in 2018 to 69 percent in 2022.

EDCOM 2 said it successfully pushed for a special provision in the 2024 national budget to prioritize the poorest students, raising their share to 27 percent for the 2023–2024 academic year.

“We call on CHED to prioritize the poorest of the poor and to work closely with DSWD [Department of Social Welfare and Development] and DepEd [Department of Education] in reaching out to 4Ps graduates,” said EDCOM 2 Executive Director Dr. Karol Mark Yee.

“Studies show that interventions like TES are most effective when eligibility is guaranteed as early as high school, conditional on the successful completion of Grade 12 and acceptance to a CHED-recognized higher education institution,” he added.

EDCOM 2 Commissioners, including Rep. Roman Romulo, Sen. Bam Aquino, and Sen. Loren Legarda, have filed bills in both the House and Senate to amend RA 10931. The proposed amendments aim to guarantee TES slots for the poorest students who finish high school, potentially helping over 500,000 4Ps graduates access higher education.

Another pressing concern, EDCOM 2 said, is the drastic reduction in TES subsidies.

EDCOM 2 Commissioner Rep. Steve Solon pointed out that the subsidy used to be P60,000 but has now dropped to P13,000.

“So, with that P60,000 we had a high attrition rate—so now with P13,000, I would assume that we would have an even higher attrition rate,” he said. “Perhaps adjustments should be made to the budget to increase the subsidy per student,” he added.

According to EDCOM 2, high attrition rates and a 38.2 percent unemployment rate among college graduates reflect deeper systemic issues in higher education. The commission also criticized “other fees” that students must pay even when tuition is free, particularly in programs like nursing, where supplemental fees often exceed tuition costs.

Yee noted that the reduced TES subsidy effectively limits low-income students’ course options.

“The only program they can realistically apply for using the TES subsidy now is teacher education,” Yee said.

“So we’re essentially saying, if you’re poor, you’re allowed to dream and go to college—but only if you want to be a teacher, because that’s the only tuition the subsidy can cover,” he added.

EDCOM 2 also urged CHED and the Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education (UNIFAST) to fully implement their responsibilities under RA 10607. UNIFAST is tasked with identifying beneficiaries, monitoring program impacts, and conducting tracer studies—functions that remain largely unfulfilled a decade after the law’s passage.

“The function of UNIFAST is very clear in terms of formulating the mechanisms and policies to identify beneficiaries, assess program impact, and conduct tracer studies,” Yee said.

Citing EDCOM 2 findings, many of UNIFAST’s responsibilities under RA 10607 “remain unfulfilled and pending” 10 years after its legislation.

“We are calling on CHED and UNIFAST to prioritize these tasks because this mechanism will help resolve concerns that have persisted for the past decade,” Yee said. “There are mechanisms, there is a law—it just needs to be implemented. Hopefully, under new leadership, we will see progress,” he added.

Created through RA 11899, EDCOM 2 is mandated to assess the national education system and recommend legislative reforms to address the country’s education crisis.