Free tuition law in SUCs in full effect this school year

Starting this coming school year, students in state universities and colleges (SUCs) would no longer have to pay for tuition and miscellaneous fees after the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) released on Wednesday the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) for the free higher education law.

According to CHEd officer in charge Prospero de Vera III, the government has allotted P40 billion to cover the first full year of implementation of the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act.

De Vera said that it took them quite some time to draw up the IRR because they had “no template” to follow, adding this was the “first time a developing country made public education free for everyone.” —Jovic Yee