* The budget department released P9.753 billion to Ched through UniFast to cover Free Higher Education Program funding deficiencies across 108 state universities and colleges nationwide.
* The released funds address validated arrears from Academic Years 2022-2023, 2023-2024, and 2024-2025 that were previously absorbed by beneficiary institutions, freeing up fiscal space for operational priorities.
* Acting Secretary Kim Robert De Leon stated the release follows President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s directive to prioritize education while maintaining fiscal balance and protecting capacity for other urgent national priorities.
THE budget department has released P9.753 billion to the Commission on Higher Education (Ched) to address funding deficiencies in the implementation of the Free Higher Education (FHE) Program in 108 state universities and colleges (SUCs) nationwide.
The release covers validated arrears incurred during Academic Years 2022-2023, 2023-2024 and 2024-2025, providing funding for costs previously absorbed by the beneficiary SUCs.
Ched, through the Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education (UniFast), will facilitate the release of the funds to the concerned SUCs in accordance with applicable guidelines.
Funding for arrears
Department of Budget and Management Acting Secretary Kim Robert De Leon said the release reflects President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s directive to keep education among the government’s priorities while ensuring that limited public resources are responsibly managed.
“With this release, we are making nearly P10 billion available to address funding requirements of our state universities and colleges while maintaining that careful fiscal balance,” De Leon said in a statement Sunday.
He added that the additional funding honors commitments to the SUCs while “protecting the government’s capacity to fund other urgent national priorities.”
The P9.753-billion funding will help ease financial pressures on SUCs that used their institutional resources to cover FHE-related costs.
More room for SUCs
With the deficiencies addressed, SUCs will have greater fiscal space for other lawful institutional priorities, including academic and research programs, student services, laboratories, libraries, information technology resources and learning facilities.
The funding may also support medical, dental, guidance, athletic and cultural services, as well as the rehabilitation, improvement or expansion of academic and other university facilities, subject to existing budgeting, accounting and auditing rules and the availability of funds.
The release was charged against DBM’s built-in appropriations under the 2026 General Appropriations Act and the Special Account in the General Fund-Higher Education Development Fund.
Program backed by law
The FHE Program was established under Republic Act 10931, or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act, which provides free tuition and other school fees for eligible Filipino students in SUCs and local universities and colleges.
The law also provides for the UniFast system, which administers higher education scholarships, grants, student loans and other forms of student financial assistance.
De Leon said responsible budgeting requires the government to prioritize expenditures based on available fiscal space, legal authority, readiness and the urgency of competing national requirements.
“Government resources are not unlimited. Therefore, the challenge before us is not merely to spend, but to ensure that every peso disbursed addresses the right needs at the right time, without neglecting other essential government services,” he said. / PNA
