Press Release - Gatchalian flags: Lower amount of Tertiary Education Subsidy to increase college dropouts

Senator Win Gatchalian flagged the reduction in the amount given to beneficiaries of the Tertiary Education Subsidy (TES), which he said could increase the number of students dropping out of school.

While the completion rate for TES beneficiaries is around 79.2%, Gatchalian fears that this could go down with the lower amount of TES grants. During his interpellation on the proposed budget of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), the senator urged the Commission to rethink the amount it gives to beneficiaries to ensure that TES grantees will complete their education.

Gatchalian pointed out how TES beneficiaries use the grants to fund their education-related expenses. TES grantees from private higher education institutions (HEIs) previously received P60,000 per academic year, P20,000 of which was meant to cover tuition, while the remaining P40,000 was for expenses such as transportation, food, lodging, and learning materials, among others. On the other hand, TES grantees from public HEIs received P40,000 per academic year. TES grantees from private schools now receive only P27,000, while those from public schools receive P20,000.

The CHED said that while there are around 200,000 slots for TES grantees every year, the Commission received 1.6 million applications for TES grants in 2021 and 2023. This prompted the Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education Board to slash the amount to accommodate more grantees. Despite the reduction in the amount of TES grants, however, the Commission was only able to accommodate 250,000 grantees.

"The amounts should be sufficient for students to graduate by their fourth year or at the end of the course. I believe that the P60,000 and 40,000 are the amounts that will incentivize students and cover their expenses to complete the school year," said Gatchalian, Co-Chairperson of the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II).

"My take is that the original amounts are designed to prevent students from dropping out so that they could graduate. And that's what we want --for them to graduate instead of us just giving subsidies and then in the middle of the school year, they just drop out," Gatchalian