In the 2024 budget, lawmakers have included a special provision to address anticipated funding shortfalls amounting to billions in the state universities and colleges' free higher education program for the year. Sherwin Gatchalian, chairperson of the Senate basic education panel, noted that the 2024 General Appropriations Act permits the utilization of surplus funds from the Higher Education Development Fund to cover potential funding gaps resulting from state universities and colleges (SUCs) admitting more students than their budget allows. Gatchalian explained that the 2024 allocation enables SUCs to tap into the remaining balance of the HEDF to bridge the disparity between their allocated budget and the actual number of enrollees and associated fees approved by the SUCs' boards of regents. Gatchalian also mentioned a projected shortfall of P4.1 billion in 2024 for free higher education, based on data from the Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges (PASUC), which would benefit over 1.8 million students.
The Higher Education Development Fund (HEDF), created by the Commission on Higher Education, serves the purpose of financing initiatives aimed at enhancing higher education. This fund has been utilized to support education programs that lack allocations in the General Appropriations Act (GAA). Since 2017, there has been a growing trend of more college and university students choosing state universities and colleges (SUCs) over private schools to benefit from tuition-free education, as reported by CHED.
According to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, a growing number of Filipinos have experienced increased access to higher education over the past two decades. The figures indicate that in 2020, at least 13% of Filipinos had attained a college education as their highest educational attainment, surpassing the 10% recorded in 2010 and the 4% in 2000. The 2024 General Appropriations Act (GAA) allocates a total of P128 billion to state universities and colleges (SUCs), an increase from the P107 billion received in 2023 and the initially proposed P100 billion in the 2024 spending plan for SUCs.
