Senator Joel Villanueva sought clarification Tuesday from officials of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) concerning the rising number of college students who are reportedly dropping out of school.
At the Senate finance subcommittee hearing on the proposed 2025 budgets of CHED with the State Universities and Colleges (SUCs), Villanueva brought to their attention a report saying that more students were choosing not to finish their studies in recent years.
“If you look at the overall picture, it seems that at least four out of 10 students in higher education either temporarily or permanently left school in the last academic year, 2022-2023,” Villanueva said.
CHED chairperson Prospero De Vera explained that the dropout rates were significantly high during the 2021, 2022, and 2023 school years due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on college students.
But De Vera noted that the current attrition rate decreased by a percentage in the high 20s. He said the number is now comparable to rates in other Southeast Asian countries and globally. This was largely attributed to the enactment of the Free Higher Education Act.
The CHED executive cited the following among the primary reasons why students choose to drop out of school: financial difficulties, family issues, relocation, medical or mental health concerns, and academic challenges.
De Vera said they are working to resolve this problem through the implementation of the Tertiary Education Subsidy (TES) and the Tulong Dunong scholarship programs for students enrolled in the SUCs on top of the Free Higher Education Act.
According to the CHED official, students who are getting free education have a higher graduation rate at 78 percent, 77 percent for Tulong Dunong scholars, and 79 percent for those receiving the TES benefits.
“So, if the government subsidizes them, their chances of completing (their studies) actually goes high,” De Vera told Senator Sherwin Gatchalian. Without these programs, the number of graduates goes down to 56 percent.
De Vera also noted that the highest attrition rate was registered among third- and fourth-year students, who are struggling with academic challenges driven by their increased expenses for on-the-job training or internship related learning experiences.
For fiscal year 2025, the CHED proposed a total of P30.1 billion; the SUCs, including the University of the Philippines (UP), at P113.7 billion; and the UP System at P22.3 billion, according to Senator Pia Cayetano, vice chairperson of the Senate Committee on Finance and sponsor of the CHED budget.
