MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has temporary suspended the scholarship applications of freshmen this coming academic year 2022 to 2023 due to lack of funds.

In a CHED memorandum dated February 21, which was made public on Thursday, March 3, the commission said that due to the “budget inadequacy in the FY 2022 budget of CHED for StuFAPs, CHED will temporarily suspend the application to CHED Scholarship Program (CSP) for incoming first year college students for Academic Year 2022-2023.”

“Further, the regional offices are directed to disseminate this information to prevent the spread of fake news and to avoid confusion among interested student applicants,” the memo read.

According to CHED, CSP is for underprivileged and the homeless, persons with disabilities (PWDs), solo parents and their dependents, senior citizens, and indigenous people. CSP provides financial assistance given directly to the scholars or through the school where they are enrolled.

Full scholarship for students in private schools and state universities and colleges amounts to P120,000 and P80,000 per year, respectively. Half scholarship covers an annual financial assistance of P60,000 for scholars enrolled in private schools, and P40,000 for those in state universities.

The commission was only given around P31.68 billion budget for 2022, which is P18.83 billion lower than its P50.51-billion budget in 2021.

During the House budget deliberations in August 2021, CHED was asking lawmakers to restore its budget, requesting congressmen for a P62.3-billion budget.

A number of colleges and universities have already opened their campuses for limited face-to-face classes. Schools in the country have been using remote learning system since the pandemic began in March 2020. – Rappler.com