Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 24) — Senator Francis Escudero has urged his colleagues to pass a bill that seeks to require higher education institutions (HEIs) to waive college entrance exam fees for qualified students.
In a statement on Sunday, Escudero said Senate Bill No. 2441, or the Free College Entrance Examinations Act, does not disenfranchise private HEIs from collecting fees as it only aims to make college entrance exams free for a select group.
It would only apply to small segment exam takers, income forgone can be recouped by payments made by other takers. And when qualified takers do proceed to enroll in the school, then the school’s small investment will yield a higher return through tuition paid. It can be seen as a marketing device that can lure potential enrollees,” he added.Section 5 of the bill states that HEIs should waive their college entrance examination fee to graduating high school students with the following qualifications:- must be a natural-born Filipino citizen- must belong to the top 10% of his or her graduating class- must belong to a family whose combined household income falls below the poverty threshold as defined by the National Economic and Development Authority.Students belonging to a family whose income cannot afford ‘in a sustained manner to provide for their minimum basic needs of food, health, education, housing and other essential amenities of life duly certified as such by the Department of Social Welfare and Development’ will also be qualified to a free entrance exam,” Escudero added, quoting Section 5C of the bill. Escudero, chair of the Senate Committee on Higher, Technical and Vocational Education, sponsored the bill on Sept. 19.
