How budget cuts could worsen the battle for spots in tuition-free universities

MANILA, Philippines — With an increasing number of students flocking to tuition-free schools, several public universities are hard-pressed to expand their slots for admission while operating near or at their maximum capacity.

But the growing applicant pool in geographically isolated and distant areas may have to soon contend with fewer – if not poorer — options as significant budget cuts loom next year for around 26 state universities and colleges (SUC) that serve as either the premiere or sole public universities in their localities.

A Philstar.com analysis of SUCs’ geographical data found that four out of the 25 SUCs with budget cuts are located in areas where they are the sole public universities serving a whole island.

For SUCs in urbanized areas, the common alternatives are usually smaller local government colleges with limited program offerings or other SUCs also set to get a budget cut.

Around 8 out of 25 or nearly a third of all SUCs with budget cuts specialize in agricultural education.

Since the passage of RA 10931 or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act in 2017, admission to SUCs has become more competitive as students from poor and wealthy households compete for almost the same number of slots.

But tuition-free schooling in higher education has also ushered in what Commission on Higher Education Chairperson Popoy De Vera called the “first-generation graduate phenomenon” where several families finally have their first college graduate.

Presidents of more than 30 SUCs have called on lawmakers to restore the P6.1 billion that was removed from the proposed spending plan for 2024 to retain the “public character” of their institutions.

“If our state universities and colleges are to be expected