Medical schools in eight state universities and colleges in the country will offer tuition-free education in the academic year 2017 to 2018. The announcement was made by CHED Commissioner Prospero de Vera III in a Facebook post last Tuesday, June 13. Malacañang confirmed this with an official announcement, Thursday. Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said the financial assistance is “intended for new and continuing medical students who will be enrolling for academic year 2017 to 2018.”
The cash grants program will be funded through P317.1 million “built-in appropriations” for the selected SUCs, with each getting P39 million for the cash grants. The P317.1 million is part of the P8.3-billion allocation meant to provide for free tuition in SUCs.
The universities providing free tuition for medical students are:
A joint memorandum circular, signed between the Commission on Higher Education and the Department of Budget and Management, said the assistance program will give a student-grantee “one hundred percent tuition fee subsidy.”
The universities providing free tuition for medical students are:
A joint memorandum circular, signed between the Commission on Higher Education and the Department of Budget and Management, said the assistance program will give a student-grantee “one hundred percent tuition fee subsidy.”
To qualify for the program, a student must:
- pass the admission requirements of the SUC,
- be enrolled in the authorized Doctor of Medicine program of the select SUCs,
- maintain a general weighted average of at least a passing grade, and
- carry a regular academic load and complete a degree within the period allowed by the university.
Applicants must submit an accomplished form directly to the SUC concerned, together with required documents, including a duly-certified copy of grades for the latest semester or term attended.
While the implementing guidelines do not mention an applicants' capacity to pay, applicants must also submit the latest Income Tax Return (ITR) of their parents or guardians.
According to Commissioner de Vera, student-grantees will have to render a one-year return service to the Philippines for every year of cash grant they receive as part of their public service responsibility. These soon-to-be doctors have the option of serving in government hospitals, private hospitals, or local government health facilities in the Philippines. They can also become doctors to the barrios.
"This initiative is a response to the continuing lack of doctors in the country caused by the high cost of medical education, overseas migration, and brain drain," Comm. De Vera said in the statement. He further added "The Duterte administration wants to solve this problem by subsidizing the tuition of medical students and facilitating their residency and practice in the different parts of the country."
source: GMA News
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