CHEd: Delayed sked to stall scholarships

The shift in the academic year calendar among state universities and colleges (SUCs) may worsen the already existing problem of delayed releases of scholarship grants to indigent students, Commission on Higher Education chair (CHEd) Patricia Licuanan said on Wednesday.

Aside from the lack of personnel who can fast track the release of the grants, Licuanan said the delay may also be attributed to the fact that the scholarship requests are not in sync with the fiscal year.

Most SUCs have shifted to an August to May school calendar in keeping with the schoolyear of most foreign universities and colleges.

Licuanan said the deluge of scholarship requests come on the third quarter of the year, while the fiscal year—the period covered by the country’s 12-month budget allocation—starts in January.

“The fact is, the academic calendar is not in sync with the fiscal calendar. That puts us at a disadvantage because we have to work with academic institutions,” she said. Marc Jayson Cayabyab, Inquirer.net