10t31 o;
Universal Alcess to euality
Tertiary Education- Aci ,i:
(UAQTEA), popularly knownas
the
Trritinn l.*
Free Tuition
Fr€e i. rrore
liw,_is L^- &^-:---,
than iust
providhg free tuition in state ini_
veEities and colleges (SUCS) for
students from pooafamilies.
Albay Rep.-Joey Sarte Salceda.
origrnal and princifaf author of the
measure in the Lowdr House. said
thc
law aJso direcr.ly benefits middle in_
corne famfies whose clildren mav
not qualify for free tuition but wh;
may avajl of finarrcial assistance
throughconcessional loars when thev
eruoll in private colleees. The loan'<
are payable when thev"eet emolovJ
and their salary level rbi.fre" ttie.iin_
lmum anIrual gross income ot ,,com_
pulsory repayment threshold" (CRn.
rh e Sociat Secudry System (SSS) and
Governmerrt Service Iruurarce Sys_
tem (CSB) will collect their reoiv-
mm ts as a percentage of their inc6nie_
on top of their otheiregularmonthly
- Salcedahas
rly
vowed to workmiehF
lor the implementation
of"rho
UAQTM towards its eue direction
particuJarly on [he operationalization
ot rts rncome--contingen t loan comD(}
nen_t. He said Section g oI the
iaw
underlines the fact that ,,while social
rehrns from higher education is esti_
maled at l2%, private teturrs are
rnB]\et at 42Y6, thus the role of the
govemment is to bridge this eao bv
Providing student acc-ess to 6i.J_
sional loan prosra[Is..'
The UAOTdA packaee has bem
modeled after the Austrilian hieher
education contribution schEme
(HECS) which Satceda successfullv
pilot tested in A_lbay where he wa'-s
provincial govemorfixninevearsunril
2016- President Duterte sisred the
lawin 2016. Nowbeinsimpi-emented
partially, ir js consideid ai one of the
landmark legacies of his adminisha-
tron.
Records show tha t only 9.6 million
out ot 107 million Filipinbs have col_
lege degrees. Thev co-nstitute 21"/"
Filipinos aged 22 ind above:Tlre la *_^f
maker lamented that the full imDle_
m€ntation ofHECS under RA 10931 is
bernghinderedby the,,stubbom resis-
tance lrom agencies like the SSS and
the GSIS, and other govemment finan_
clal mshtu tions (GFIS.), whose ensaee_
ment rs critical to the success o"f iho
law." He noted that in Aushalia, the
l:rtl,b repa)rynmt rate is high at g7ol..
ralceqa sard a l,residential Exe<r r_
tiveOrder maybeneeded to man_
date. variou5. ggyaln]nsnl .raa-
cies to play thih designed r"oles
_
wherl the sta te kickstarts th; full oper_
a
_tionalization of the UAeTEA'Gs
school year 2019-2020, tarsetine at
Ieast 30% of the non-4ps ioutfi or
those who did not qualifv' for fre€
college subsidies.
" As the principal author, sDonsor.
and advocate of UAeTEA, it is mv
resolve to see that it is implemented iir
detail, and ensure that ihe intended
benehciaries are enrolled and partner
schools are paid rightfulv ;nd on
time, so this law cail fulli serve irs
pupose in nation-buildiris and na_
tional development,,, he str'essed .
There are il2 state universities and
colleges (SUCS) and 8Z comDliant lo_
cal uni versities an d colleges ( LUCs) in
the country. He said delaved oav_
ments to partner schools ,ier;o'r^i"
undermine their financial capabilitv tl
pursue thefu va.rious prosr;rns irr'in_
hastruchue,irurovati&rs, ft sear.f rar,a
development."
Such fiscal instability, Salceda
,,presents
pointed ou L likewise teml]_
tations for schools to conficue #d
c,olectsfudent feesin gray a;eas. and
deleat the overarchin! intent of the
Iaw tor iree tuition and otler school
fees."
P'5C J