Republic Act No. 10931, the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act of 2017, has significantly reduced financial barriers for Filipino students by eliminating tuition and other school fees in state universities and colleges, local universities and colleges, and state-run technical-vocational institutions. This law addresses the 15.5% poverty incidence in 2023, where nearly one in five Filipinos struggles with basic needs, enabling over 1.6 million students to access free higher education annually since its implementation. By sparing families the average PHP 70,000 to PHP 250,000 annual tuition in private universities, the policy has boosted enrollment rates by 14% in public institutions, fostering greater socioeconomic mobility.
What is Free Tuition Law for?
The Free Tuition Law, under RA 10931, primarily exempts qualified Filipino undergraduates from tuition and mandatory fees like library and laboratory charges in state universities, covering 101 SUCs and institutions nationwide. It targets financial exclusion, with data showing 40% of high school graduates previously deterred by costs, now achieving a 25% rise in tertiary enrollment from 2017 to 2023. CHED reports that this provision has allocated PHP 67 billion yearly, directly subsidizing 2.3 million students and reducing dropout rates by 11%.
This legislation strengthens the Unified Student Financial Assistance System, providing subsidies for private school overflow students, where 30% of qualified applicants received PHP 20,000 to PHP 40,000 per year. It promotes equity, as PIDS studies indicate a 15% increase in graduates from bottom income quintiles. Vocational tracks under TESDA have seen 500,000 beneficiaries, with completion rates up 87.47% due to waived fees. Overall, it shifts 60% of education costs from households to the state budget.
Why should scrutiny apply when collections exceed legal limits?
However, there were instances where SUCs would still collect miscellaneous fees from students despite being covered by the law’s provisions. Pursuant to Section 4, the exemption from tuition and related institutional fees applies to all Filipino students pursuing undergraduate or comparable degrees following the law’s enactment.
This was rampant especially during 2017-2018 during the law’s early implementation phase when the guidelines for were not yet finalized. Around this time, the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) was reported to have collected around PHP 1,500-6,000 tuition fees and Don Honorio Ventura Technological State University accumulated up to PHP 5,000 miscellaneous fees.
Unauthorized collections undermine RA 10931’s core exemption of tuition and other school fees. Instances include a recent finding from a 2024 Commission on Audit (COA) report, wherein three State Universities and Colleges—Cebu Technological University (CTU), Pangasinan State University (PSU), and the University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines (USTP)—received PHP 548.7 million in overpayments between 2018 and 2022.
How are violators of unauthorized fee collections pursued or penalized?
Hidden charges, frequently categorized as miscellaneous costs, undermine the core purpose of the ‘Free Tuition Law’ and create significant hurdles for its successful execution. Legal boundaries include financially-capable students having the option to voluntarily opt-out of the free tuition or school fees and pay for it instead. However, it should not be mandatory or forced.
RA 10931 Section 12 imposes imprisonment of six months to one year or fines from PHP 20,000 to PHP 100,000 on officers collecting unauthorized fees. Section 9 requires SUCs to submit quality and performance data to CHED, while Section 10 tasks CHED with enforcing quality standards during budget reviews for SUCs. The law creates a Joint Congressional Oversight Committee involving CHED to monitor overall implementation, supporting rigorous accountability to prevent unauthorized fee collections.
Research by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) has pointed out that tuition is only one part of the financial burden. When SUCs collect unauthorized fees, they disproportionately affect students from the lowest income deciles, for whom even small “miscellaneous” charges can lead to dropouts. Ultimately, it makes students stuck even before they start to achieve their dreams.
PIDS calls for a targeted subsidy system that prioritizes the poorest students who still struggle with non-tuition costs. Policymakers are urged to expand the Tertiary Education Subsidy (TES) to cover the “hidden” financial burdens, including living expenses and transportation—that tuition waivers alone do not address. The research also recommends funding the student rather than the institution through a voucher system to ensure equity and maintain the viability of both public and private college
