10 years later, key UniFAST goals still unmet — EDCOM

A decade after the passage of Republic Act 10687, which created the Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education (UniFAST), most of its key mandates remain unfulfilled. 

This was revealed during a recent hearing of the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) on the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) charter in a statement on Saturday. 

Enacted in 2015, RA 10687 aimed to unify and streamline all government-funded student financial aid programs. 

However, EDCOM 2 findings show that major provisions including the creation of a National Student Loan Program, impact evaluation mechanisms, and harmonized scholarship guidelines, have yet to be implemented.

“The UniFAST was the government’s answer to what was observed to be a fragmented and meager, untargeted and unharmonious,” said EDCOM 2 Executive Director Dr. Karol Mark Yee. 

He said the main goal of UniFAST was to harmonize all existing student financial assistance programs of the government across different agencies, to ensure improved efficiency and efficiency. 

“However, ten years later, many of the intentions of the law are still unfulfilled,” he added. 

Currently, UniFAST manages the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education (UAQTE) Program, which includes the Tertiary Education Subsidy and the Tulong Dunong Program. 

However, under RA 10687, UniFAST was also mandated to implement several key functions that remain pending. 

These include: establishing a qualifying exam system for merit- and talent-based scholarships; conducting impact evaluations to assess which financial aid programs should be continued or discontinued; developing a long-term, self-sustaining National Student Loan Program; and maintaining an online portal listing all accredited public and private higher education institutions.

Shifted priorities, delayed implementation

Former CHED Chairperson Dr. Patricia Licuanan lamented that UniFAST’s broader vision was sidelined after the enactment of the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act (RA 10931), which mandated free tuition. 

Licuanan noted that the focus shifted to free tuition, leaving other critical UniFAST mandates unattended.

UniFAST Executive Director Atty. Ryan Estevez echoed this, saying the agency’s priorities changed post-2017 to implement RA 10931. 

Only in recent years has UniFAST resumed work on its original mandates, including harmonizing guidelines for government scholarship programs.

A draft of these unified guidelines is expected to be presented to partner agencies within two weeks.

Local colleges exploiting funding gap

University of Makati President Prof. Elyxzur Ramos raised concerns over how some local universities have used UniFAST funds to duplicate common programs and bypass innovation. 

Ramos said it became politically appealing to put up local colleges, but the tendency is to offer easy-to-approve programs just to secure funding.

“I’ve always said that, if you are a local politician, it makes sense for you to put up a school. You will look good to your constituents, and you can easily pass on the cost to the national government through UniFAST - you just have to invest in putting up a building, and you come up with programs that are easiest to get COPC (Certificate of Program Compliance) approval,” he said. 

“This is why we see a lot of LUCs duplicating courses that are also being offered by a lot of SUCs and private HEIs”, he continued.

EDCOM 2 also cited concerns from state universities and colleges (SUCs) over increased dependency on national subsidies and delays in UniFAST reimbursements.

Structural, staffing constraints

CHED officials pointed to limited staff and resources as reasons for UniFAST’s delayed implementation. 

CHED Executive Director Atty. Cinderella Benitez-Jaro said the commission's workforce has not grown despite being assigned additional mandates over the years.

After 2018, she noted that CHED was tasked with implementing numerous laws, including UniFAST, but its organizational structure and plantilla positions remained the same. 

“This has strained CHED’s capacity to fulfill all responsibilities, including managing the significant financial outlay of UniFAST,” she said. 

CHED Chairperson Dr. Shirley Agrupis added that while CHED’s budget has grown significantly to P32.7 billion in 2022, most of it is tied to free tuition and subsidies, with limited flexibility for other initiatives.

EDCOM 2 Co-Chair Rep. Roman Romulo questioned why UniFAST has not partnered with state banks like the Development Bank of the Philippines and Landbank of the Philippines to jumpstart the stalled student loan program. 

“They already run ‘study now, pay later’ schemes. Why not work with them?” he said.

EDCOM 2 has asked UniFAST to submit a timeline for fulfilling its nine unaccomplished mandates by 3 August 2025.