BACOLOD City – Around 3,500 students of the Bacolod City College (BCC) will avail themselves of the government’s free tuition and miscellaneous fee program.
BCC administrator Ma. Johanna Ann Bayoneta said of the 3,500 enrollees, about 800 are freshmen.
BCC students are entitled to the free tuition program under Republic Act (RA) 10931, or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act.
RA 10931 seeks to “provide adequate funding and other mechanisms to increase the participation rate among all socioeconomic classes in tertiary education in the country.”
It also wants to give Filipinos “equal opportunity to quality tertiary education in both the private and public educational institutions.”
Bayoneta said they are awaiting technical advice from the Commission on Higher Education in relation to the free tuition program.
BCC is a community college run by the city government.
Now that tuition is free, the city government only needs to fund the school’s operational expenses, Bayoneta explained.
Today is the opening of classes at the BCC./PN