Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo launched recently a P1 billion loan-based assistance program for deserving third and fourth year college students to enable them to finish their schooling.
Dubbed as the Student's Assistance Fund for Education for a Strong Republic (SAFE 4 SR), the program provides interest-free loans, which the students can use to cover expenses for their tuition fees, books, course projects, thesis papers, board and lodging bills, graduation fees and other educational expenses.
The President led guests in the launch of the funding program held at the school gym of the Eulogio "Amang" Rodriguez Institute of Science and Technology (EARIST) in Manila.
Under the program, the President, through the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), will provide 44 pre-qualified institutions composed of 21 State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) and 23 higher education institutions (HEIs) with P300,000 each for the program.
The 44 institutions will determine who among their students shall receive P8,000 each per semester representing the maximum loanable amount from the program.
Upon graduation, the student will have 10 years to pay the total amount to the school where he or she graduated from.
The President also distributed 15 out of the 44 checks earmarked for the educational institutions.
In her speech keynoting the launch of the student loan program, the President said the SAFE 4 SR represents "the second of the major components of the fruits to be made available this year by our lower-than-program budget deficit which can be attributed to VAT (Value Added Tax) reforms."
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