The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) began issuing the Tertiary Education Subsidy (TES) program stipend for over 290,000 college students for the academic year 2019-2021.
According to CHED Chairman J. Prospero de Vera III, a total of 292,438 public and private HEIs would receive the TES stipend after the Department of Budget and Management recently downloaded P6 billion to the Commission.
De Vera said the recipients include the 44,224 new grantees in public HEIs (first semester); 3,528 Expanded Students’ Grants-in-Aid Program for Poverty Alleviation (ESGP-PA) beneficiaries for the first semester; 147,512 continuing Tulong Dunong Program beneficiaries (first and second semester) and the 97,173 continuing private HEIs grantees (first semester and part of the second semester).
“The qualified beneficiaries that will receive TES stipends are from the state and local universities and colleges and private HEIs that have complied with the necessary requirements by CHED and the Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education (UniFAST) Secretariat,” De Vera said.
CHED initially released TES stipends in March and benefitted 23,319 continuing grantees in 51 SUCs and LUCs that completed their submission of liquidation requirements for the first semester of AY 2019-2020.
On May 15, 120,798 students from 404 colleges and universities nationwide received their TES for the first semester of Academic Year 2019 to 2020.
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The TES is one of the core programs of under RA 10931 with funding of PhP16 billion. It is a grants-in-aid program that gives additional financial assistance to Filipino students from the poorest-of-the-poor households enrolled in public and private HEIs that are in the Registry of Quality-assured programs and institutions.
Students currently enrolled in the 112 SUCs, 78 CHED-recognized LUCs, and quality-assured programs in private HEIs in municipalities and cities where there are no public universities. The program prioritizes the following:
- Expanded Students’ Grants-in-Aid Program for Poverty Alleviation (ESGP-PA) continuing grantees
- Students enrolled in private HEIs in cities/municipalities with no SUC/LUC campus
- Students included in Listahanan 2.0 of DSWD
Under RA 10931, financial support from the government through TES will cover the cost of their tertiary education such as tuition (in private HEIs) and other school fees and allowances for books and other education-related expenses including transportation, board and lodging, and even subsidy for persons with disability and a one-time cost of taking a first licensure examination for Board courses and programs.