BY SHAN KENSHIN Q. ECALDRE
Bulatlat.com

Cabuyao, City — Although Krisha Guevara herself was not directly burdened by tuition fees, the Tarlac State University student became a staunch advocate of free education after seeing how her classmates continued to struggle, despite the promise of Republic Act 10931, or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act. What was meant to ensure free schooling instead came with waivers to sign, installment plans to pay, and even threats of purging.

“The policy was simply handed over for signing and immediately declared as final, no changes or revisions could be made. Even the SSC President/Student Regent of 2023 was caught off guard by its abrupt and forced ratification,” Guevara, TSU Senator on Records and Secretary General of NUSP-Tarlac, told Bulatlat in an interview. 

Students at TSU were asked for an initial P2,000 payment for a semester, a burden for poor families. By February 7, 2025, a memorandum was released by the university’s Vice President in Academic Affairs (OVPAA) Dr. Agnes Macaraeg to enforce student purging. This means that those who failed to pay would be removed from classes and barred from academic activity.

“This was clearly a stripping away of the youth’s right to education. As long as the opt-out mechanism exists, compulsory payments and the threat of student purging will continue. That’s why the call of the  students in TSU is for the junking of the opt-out mechanism and the implementation of a genuine free, quality, and pro-people education,” Guevara said.

Voluntary or coercive opt-out scheme?

The controversy stems from Senator Bam Aquino’s proposal during the September 27 Senate budget hearing, where he pushed for an opt-out mechanism under RA 10931, allowing students with the capacity to pay to voluntarily waive the free tuition. Aquino said that this would promote social justice.

However, youth groups stressed that what was introduced as voluntary has already become coercive in practice, pressuring students to pay.

“The opt-out scheme is presented as a choice for those who can pay, but in reality, it becomes a tool to pressure students into paying. At TSU, many students experienced payment becoming the default once requirements weren’t complied with immediately. What this shows is that free education is no longer automatic; it becomes a privilege you must prove or fight for,” Miguela Alejandra Mata, president of the National Union of Students of the Philippines–Southern Tagalog, told Bulatlat.

Socialized tuition scheme at Bulacan State University 

At Bulacan State University (BulSU), another mechanism, the Socialized Tuition Scheme (STS) is embedded in the university’s charter.

“For students who know about it, the reaction is disappointment. Even if labeled as ‘well-off,’ families are also struggling. The burden will be heavier for young peasants stripped of land, fisherfolk with no seas to fish, and working-class youth with parents earning insufficient wages,” said Althea Jana Trinidad, Anakbayan Central Luzon chairperson, in an interview with Bulatlat.

Trinidad said that STS exemplifies the commercialization of higher education, treating education as a business instead of a service for the youth. She urged the government to increase the education budget and allocate funds properly to meet students’ needs rather than adding more financial burdens.

Nationwide crisis: Budget cuts and dropouts

The struggles at TSU and BulSU are part of a nationwide crisis tied to budget cuts, commercialization, and high dropout rates. From 2018 to 2025, CHED appropriations declined from P49.40 billion to P34.88 billion, a 29.4% reduction, peaking at P52.43 billion in 2019 and collapsing to P32.75 billion by 2022 before a slight increase in 2025. These cuts resulted in insufficient classrooms, limited scholarships, and continued reliance on student fees.

Even with free tuition, attrition rates remain high. By SY 2021–2022, nearly 40% of students dropped out, double the pre-pandemic average, and by SY 2022–2023, attrition peaked at 40.98%. The national average currently hovers at 39%.

“Even with the Free Tuition Fee Act, the dropout rate in SUCs remained at 39% in AY 2023–24 because tuition is only one cost. Students still shoulder transportation, books, lodging, food, and internet. Free tuition without full support is an illusion,” said Dante Panalangin of ACT Teachers–Southern Tagalog.

Free education or conditional privilege?

Panalangin stressed that the crisis goes beyond Aquino’s opt-out scheme. 

Underfunded SUCs lack sufficient funds for facilities, teacher salaries, and non-tuition costs critical for students to graduate. He said the government has the constitutional duty to fund education as a basic right, not a favor. Mata reinforced this, asserting that education under RA 10931 was never fully free, and the opt-out scheme, together with STS, proves that free education is an illusion.

“As long as it is conditional, education remains a privilege to fight for, not a guaranteed right,” Mata told Bulatlat.

Students resist

Students first learned about the required tuition payments under the opt-out scheme during the Academic Year 2023–2024, without consultations with the Student Regent or student representatives. By Academic Year 2024–2025, the scheme was formally implemented. Students experienced tuition payments and other fees despite RA 10931 mandating free tuition and miscellaneous fees.

During enrollment for the Second Semester of 2024–2025, students were shocked by the sudden implementation, unequal fees between departments, additional laboratory and miscellaneous charges without justification, and an initial P2,000 payment plus monthly installments. On February 7, 2025, TSU administration issued an Office Memorandum implementing student purging beginning March 4, 2025.

“The call of the students is simple: junk the opt-out scheme. Scrap tuition mechanisms that only deepen inequality. Fund our SUCs. Education is not a privilege. It is our right,” Guevara said.

At BulSU, Trinidad said that while the STS has yet to take full effect, initial data collection of student economic status has begun. Many students remain unaware of the scheme, and she emphasized that STS commercializes education, making it inaccessible and undermining quality.

“Student councils and organizations continue to push for increased education budgets and proper allocation rather than imposing additional fees,” Trinidad said.

Conditional free education

Mata said that both the opt-out scheme and STS are presented as mechanisms to make free education “fairer,” but in reality, they become barriers. STS conditions access on proving financial need, while the opt-out scheme pressures students to pay even if they cannot afford it. Both disproportionately affect working-class and poor students.
“As long as free education is conditional, requiring proof of poverty or forced payments, it remains far from truly accessible and free for all,” Mata told Bulatlat. (RTS, DAA)