Go files bill on study now pay later program

March 4, 2017 Metro BLISTT

Baguio City Rep. Mark Go filed House Bill No. 5066 known as the “Study Now Pay Later Act of 2017” mandating all Private Higher Education Institutions (PHEIs) to implement the study now pay later program.
This measure allows any Filipino citizen enrolled in any degree program at any PHIE and whose family’s income does not exceed P300,000 per annum to pay the tuition when the beneficiary has been gainfully employed.
“Under the current Study-Now-Pay-Later scheme administered by the Commission on Higher Education, the government acts as the loan creditor of student beneficiaries. However, the responsibility of providing access to higher education, and ensuring the retention of students in higher education institutions fall not only on the State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) but on PHEIs as well,” Go said.
Under this proposed bill, the program shall be implemented at every PHEI accredited by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED). The program shall be made available to five percent (5%) to ten percent (10%) of the student population of the implementing PHEI. The same shall also be implemented to cover the full amount of the tuition fee of each student beneficiary of the program. On the part of the student beneficiary, he shall be obliged to pay the PHEI the amount of tuition fee during the period covered by the program two years after being gainfully employed.
“This program provides an additional avenue for PHEIs to become our country’s partner in nation building and as investors in human development,” Go said.
The establishment of “Study Now Pay Later” program is one of the advocacies that the lawmaker laid down during the 2016 election campaign. PR / ABN