ILOILO City – Students in four local colleges in Western Visayas covered by the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act of 2017 won’t be paying tuition and miscellaneous fees beginning school year 2018-2019.
The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) identified these colleges as the following:
* Iloilo City Community College
* Passi City Community College (Iloilo)
* Libacao College of Science and Technology (Aklan)
* Bago City College (Negros Occidental)
These colleges met the criteria to qualify for the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act of 2017.
The criteria included the following:
* faculty requirement – the college must have sufficient staff and personnel
* must have own school site titled in the name of the institution
* must have a sustainable institution development plan for the next five years
* its president must not be a politician or mayor
According to CHED Region 6 director Dr. Cesar Medina, six local colleges failed to qualify for the school year 2018-2019 coverage of the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act of 2017.
But he expressed confidence that they would qualify for the next school year by meeting the criteria.
These six colleges were the Bacolod City College, La Carlota College (Negros Occidental), Balete Community College (Aklan), Batan Community College (Aklan), Vicente A. Javier Memorial Community College (Antique), and Alvatas Community College (Aklan).
President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law Republic Act 10931 (the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act of 2017) last year to cover 112 state universities and colleges, and 78 local universities and colleges across the country./PN
