The Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) delayed its decision Tuesday on Tarlac State University’s (TSU) newly proposed retention policy and free tuition ‘opt-out’ mechanisms.

TSU previously came under fire for its ‘opt-out’ policy, which admitted nonqualifiers to the state university if they chose to give up their free tuition benefits under the Free Tuiton Law. The administration’s plan to purge students who have not yet paid this tuition by Feb. 28 was successfully postponed by advocates. 

The new policy proposed by TSU March 18 would have allowed current students admitted under this policy to get free tuition benefits if they keep a “1.50” grade for two consecutive semesters. It also would strip students with failing grades and disciplinary infractions of their free tuition benefits.

But these mechanisms risk the very premise of the Free Tuition Law, which recognized Filipinos’ right to education without asterisks, according to Renee Co, the first nominee of Kabataan Partylist.

“Hindi dapat ito pre-condition sa enrollment ng mga estudyante which is yun yong ginagawa dito. Doing this, makes education inaccessible, expensive, as if nag-ooffer tayo ng private education sa isang public institution," Renee Co, Kabataan Partylist first nominee, told the Collegian.

The TSU administration argued that the policy was lawful since the law recognized the autonomy of state universities and local colleges to devise policies that would ensure the students meet set qualities and competencies reflected by the university.

But the law states that the opt-out mechanism should target students “with the financial capacity to pay for their education.” TSU’s mechanism, in contrast, targets students who did not meet the university’s admission requirements. 

“Education should never be a privilege disguised as a policy. It should be a right made tangible, inclusive, and humane,” Krisha Guevarra, Secretary-General of the National Union of Students of the Philippines - Tarlac, told the Collegian.

The current tuition fee for an engineering student at TSU is P8,295 for a single semester, supposedly covered by the Free Tuition Law. For opt-to-pay students, the same semester and program cost about P9,765—about a 15% increase in tuition for the same program. 

The current TSU fiasco relates to a similar dilemma faced by those in private universities in the Metro and other regions. Private university students petitioned CHEd for a moratorium on tuition increases in private universities amid rising prices of essential commodities.

Private universities cited the rising cost of inflation and cost operations as the major reason for such bids. Without providing adaptive measures to cater to the financial risks, the institutions will struggle to operate. 

However, the very same premise was also the reason why private university students criticized the hikes. Other than inflation, most of these universities lie along the tracks of LRT-1 where a proposed transportation fee hike was approved.

On the national level, these issues drive the discussion on the education budget. The finalized 2025 budget contained a P1 trillion allocation to the Department of Public Works and Highways, higher than education’s P984 billion.

While the government claims that education received the most allocation as mandated by the Constitution, their number included the budgets of reclassified non-education agencies, including the Philippine Military Academy, the Philippine National Police Academy, and the National Defense College, all previously under the Department of National Defense.

“Binabaluktot nila ang pagbibigay-buhay sa constitutional provision that education should be the highest budgetary priority of the state,” Co said.

At present, TSU’s student council is currently opening dialogues with the academic community further to enhance the provisions in the newly-announced retention policies. 

Meanwhile, private universities continue their calls for the freezing of tuition fees as a measure to lift additional financial burdens to the already increasing prices of basic commodities for students. 

“Nasa atin ngayon ang bola, ang kamay na tatanggal sa mga tanikala na ‘to, and to do that, kailangan nating magmulat ng kapwa kabataan sa reyalidad na ‘to at kumilos para baguhin ito,” Co said. ●

With reports from Sidney Lance Fernando.