AS 30 out of 117 state universities and colleges in the Philippines are set to receive less funding for 2024, lawmakers appealed to the national government to give students the chance to have a free state university education.
“Education is a right, and every Filipino should be given the chance to be educated. It also should not be just elementary and secondary education, but students should be given the chance to have free state university education,” said Castro. “The overall allocations for the Free Higher Education Program have been increased, which means there is an intention to increase the number of colleges, but at the same time, there is a 62 percent budget cut for the capital outlay [or the budget for infrastructure construction and purchase of facilities] of SUCs, amounting to P9.1 billion,” added Manuel.