At least 168,000 students have been denied admission to state universities and colleges amid SUC capacity issues.
Data submitted by 62 of 115 SUCs showed that 32 of the SUCs or 52 percent have exceeded their capacities. Meanwhile, 11 SUCs or 18 percent have reached 100 percent capacity.
As a result, 168,493 students were denied enrollment despite qualifying for admission.
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate committee on finance, said SUCs should focus on increasing academic capacities.
He also asked the SUCs to submit their capital outlay requirements focused on classrooms and other academics-related needs.
‘The goal here is no more displaced students,’ Gatchalian added.
He noted that the SUCs’ capital outlay decreased from P31 billion in 2024 to P17 billion in 2025.
Ghost beneficiaries
Catholic schools were not involved in the voucher anomaly involving ghost beneficiaries under the Senior High School Voucher Program, the Catholic Association of the Philippines (CEAP) said.
‘They (ghost beneficiaries) do not come from Catholic schools. In fact, the ghost students were discovered by a mechanism we call the Private Education Assistance Committee, PEAC,’ CEAP president Fr. Karel San Juan said.
Education Secretary Sonny Angara has said that the voucher anomaly involving ghost beneficiaries has reached more than P100 million.
‘PEAC assures that government funding is distributed professionally to the rightful recipients. It certifies that schools really exist,’ San Juan added.
San Juan also welcomed initiatives in the House of Representatives and the Senate to expand the voucher program to be able to cover Kindergarten to Grade six.
‘Not only that, we’re pushing for an increase of amount because now, the amount ranges from P9,000 to P13,000 and that is not adequate to fully support the cost of education and they are open to that, especially now, with this controversy of flood control budget, our congressmen are very supportive of all this. We are pushing for the transfer of funds to education,’ San Juan said.
San Juan noted a huge drop in the enrollment in Catholic schools, amid the exodus of learners to public schools.
In three years alone, or from 2019 to 2022, the enrollment went down from 4.3 million to 1.4 million, he said.
He added that because of the difficult economic situation, students would gravitate towards free tuition fees in public schools.