Student Loans: A Lifeline That CHED Still Owes Filipino Students

Education is often billed as the great equalizer, a bridge to opportunity for all. Yet for countless Filipino students, that promise remains heartbreakingly out of reach. Even with the landmark Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act (Republic Act No. 10931), which provides free tuition in state colleges and universities, the hidden costs of learning—living expenses, books, transportation, and daily necessities—continue to weigh down students from underserved communities. For many, “free” education proves anything but, and the struggle to make ends meet drives far too many people to abandon their dreams.

This dilemma is precisely why the recent findings of the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EdCom II) are so troubling: the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) has not delivered on its legal mandate to implement a student loan program under RA 10931.

The law was never solely about waiving tuition. It was a pledge to ensure no deserving student would be left behind. It requires a student loan program to bridge the financial gaps that a tuition subsidy cannot fill. Yet, years after the law’s passage, this vital lifeline remains conspicuously absent. As a result, thousands of students turn to informal lenders charging predatory rates—sometimes as high as 100 percent—risking long-term financial ruin simply to stay in school.

A government-backed, low-interest student loan system is not a radical proposal but a matter of social justice and sound public policy.

Skeptics may point to risks—defaults, bureaucracy, the burden of debt. But these problems are solvable. Countries like Australia and the United Kingdom have long implemented income-contingent repayment schemes, where graduates repay loans only when their income exceeds a certain threshold.

When carefully designed, student loans do not shackle students; they empower them. They ensure that access to higher education is determined by talent and ambition, not by family wealth. They equip the nation with the skilled human capital it urgently needs, while helping students develop financial literacy and responsibility.

For CHEd’s long-overdue student loan program to truly fulfill the intent of RA 10931 and heed EdCom II’s call to action, it must include these nonnegotiables:

Low, fixed interest rates—to ensure repayments remain manageable and predictable.
Income-based repayment—so that repayment only begins when graduates are financially able.
Mandatory financial literacy training—preparing students for informed borrowing and responsible repayment.
Prioritized access for the neediest students—removing barriers and red tape for those most in need.
Effective oversight and inter-agency coordination—so CHEd, UniFAST, and all agencies work together efficiently and transparently.

This support should be coupled with career services, job placement assistance, and robust graduate tracking systems, ensuring that students are not just able to enroll but empowered to succeed beyond graduation.

The ball is now squarely in CHEd’s court and its newly appointed chair, Dr. Shirley C. Agrupis, to not just comply with the letter of the law, but to meet its moral duty to students, families, and the nation’s future. Each year of inaction sidelines another generation of promising students, forcing them to choose between education and survival.

Student loans are not a silver bullet. But without them, free tuition remains only half a solution. CHEd must act to deliver on its promise. A country that fails to invest in its youth is a country that mortgages its future.

FIORELLO B. ABENES,
lbabenes@cpp.edu