The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) is taking steps to prevent fraudulent claims of scholarship benefits as it rolls out the cash-based Bagong Pilipinas Merit Scholarship Program, which targets students from low- to middle-income families.

CHED Chairperson Dr. Shirley Agrupis announced that the guidelines for the scholarship program will be formally presented to President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Tuesday, in line with his priority initiatives for the new administration.

“Mayroon siyang PhP634 million to cover 20,000 slots and this is across the country. We are scheduled to present the guidelines mamaya kay President BBM kasi ito ang kanyang number one na ibinigay sa amin sa bagong administrasyon ng CHED,” Agrupis said during a Palace press briefing.

The merit-based scholarship aims to encourage students to pursue priority programs in either state-funded or private universities. 

To ensure fairness and transparency, CHED has introduced a selection mechanism based on academic performance, preventing the misuse of funds by so-called “ghost scholars.”

Under the program, students enrolling in state universities and colleges (SUCs) in Metro Manila may receive a PhP25,000 per-semester stipend plus a PhP4,000 book and connectivity allowance, totaling P29,000 per semester. Stipends for students outside the National Capital Region are set at lower amounts.

For students attending private universities in NCR, the scholarship provides a tuition fee subsidy of PhP75,000, a PhP25,000 stipend, and a PhP4,000 book and connectivity allowance. Annual support reaches P208,000 for NCR students and P98,000 for those outside NCR.

The selection of scholarship slots will be region-specific, with allocation based on a formula developed by CHED. “We already have here the number of senior high schools per region, and then we designated the top five (students), kasi this is, I call it the triple A scholarship program, based on the general weighted average, iyong top five ang kukunin namin,” Agrupis explained.

She added that the program provides students with hope to achieve their ambitions while contributing to the nation-building agenda of the Bagong Pilipinas.

The initiative reflects CHED’s commitment to accountability and transparency, aiming to ensure that financial aid reaches deserving students and eliminates the risk of ghost beneficiaries that have plagued previous scholarship programs.