Many hailed the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act as the answer to Filipinos’ right to a free education. The law, however, following some revisions, now comes with waivers to sign, installment plans to pay, and even threats that beneficiaries will be purged.

“The policy was simply handed over for signing and was immediately declared as final — no changes or revisions could be made. Even the SSC president/student regent of 2023 was caught off guard by its abrupt and forced ratification,” a student leader at Tarlac State University (TSU) intimated to Nosy Tarsee.

TSU students were told to make an initial P2,000 payment for a semester, an amount that is a burden to low-income families. On 7 February 2025, a memorandum was issued by the university’s vice president for academic affairs (OVPAA), Dr. Agnes Macaraeg, to enforce the student purging. This meant that those who failed to pay would be removed from their classes and barred from participating in academic activities.

“This was clearly a stripping away of the youth’s right to education. As long as the opt-out mechanism exists, compulsory payments and the threat of student purging will continue. That’s why the call of the students at TSU is for the junking of the opt-out mechanism and the implementation of a genuine free, quality, and pro-people education,” the TSU student said.

The controversy stemmed from Senator Bam Aquino’s proposal during the 27 September Senate budget hearing where he pushed for an opt-out mechanism under RA 10931 that would allow students with the capacity to pay to waive the free tuition provision voluntarily. Aquino said this would promote social justice.

Youth groups, however, pointed out that what was introduced as voluntary has become a coercive practice in state universities, pressuring many students, arbitrarily considered well-off, to pay.

The opt-out scheme was presented as a choice for those who can pay, but in reality, it has become a tool to pressure students into paying.

For many TSU students who don’t immediately comply with requirements, paying has become the default. What this shows is that a free education is no longer free; it is a privilege you must fight for and prove you have a right to, Nosy Tarsee was told.