SECOND Congressional Commission on Education (Edcom 2) Commissioner Sen. Loren Legarda filed Senate Bill 2905 on Dec. 17. The bill seeks to amend Republic Act 10931 or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act.Findings from Edcom 2 showed a concerning shift in the allocation of Tertiary Education Subsidy (TES) grants from 2018 to 2022. Initially designed to prioritize students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, the actual distribution showed a significant tilt toward students from Private Non-State and Local Universities and Colleges, who have increasingly received a larger share of the subsidies. This shift has been at the expense of students from the poorest households, including those enrolled in the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) and identified through the Listahanan 2.0 initiative. To ensure fairer access to higher education across various socioeconomic groups, the bill proposes several key amendments. It guarantees automatic eligibility for TES to students from 4Ps households. Moreover, the revised prioritization will ensure that remaining TES slots are allocated based on a more equitable system of ranking applicants by per capita household income. The bill also regularizes the review and setting of appropriate subsidy amounts, enhancing monitoring and quality assurance measures and establishing a regular review process to ensure that the program's objectives are being met effectively.
