Video from PTV
MANILA - The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) on Saturday clarified that other scholarships are available following the suspension of its merit scholarship for freshmen.
In a televised briefing, CHED Chairman Prospero De Vera III said that the merit scholarship for freshmen does not have any budget for now. This scholarship is for students who have high grades, and 5,000 slots were affected, he added.
The Tertiary Education Subsidy, Tulong Dunong, and medical scholarships are still available, he said.
"Pataasan po sila ng grades para sa priority programs, kulang po kasi ang pondong nabinigay sa CHED kaya ang kaya lang naming pondohan ay yung continuing scholars," De Vera explained.
"Sinuspende po natin [na] tumanggap ng bagong application sa CHED merit scholarship dahil kulang po ang pondo, yun lang po ang apektado... grade-based ito, hindi ito financial-need based. 'Yan lang ang hindi natin mapondohan ang new scholars," he said.
Some P31.68 billion was allocated to CHED under the 2022 General Appropriations Act.
This is lower than the more than P50 billion it received last year and just around half of the P62 billion it initially asked from Congress.