Commission on Higher Education

.title[
# Commission on Higher Education
]
.subtitle[
## A comprehensive look at the budget, 2018-2026
]
.date[
### August 2026
]

---

# Section 1 of 3: The Scale of the Budget

### A PHP 47-billion budget that is mostly free tuition

---

## Executive summary

- **CHED is a large but stagnant budget.** Enacted funding was **PHP 49.4B in 2018 and PHP 47.5B in 2026** -- essentially flat over the period, and *volatile* in between (as low as PHP 31.7B in 2022) -- it has not grown.
- **In budget terms, CHED is a free-tuition fund.** A single P/A/P -- **Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education (UAQTEA)** -- is **79% of the 2026 budget**; the top three subsidy lines are 89%, and the agency is **98% MOOE**.
- **Its regulatory mandate is a rounding error.** Quality assurance and regulation -- CHED's core job -- is about **1-2% of the budget**; almost everything is student subsidies and scholarships.
- **Congress reshapes CHED violently.** It added **+PHP 37B in 2018** (when free higher education was first funded), **cut PHP 20B in 2022**, and added **+PHP 14B in 2026** -- the widest swings in the series.
- **Execution is the weakest in the series.** Cash utilization (disbursements-to-allotment) is often just **40-60%**; large unspent free-tuition balances carry forward year after year.
- **No reorganization.** CHED has sat under the Other Executive Offices throughout, with a stable four-program structure.

---

## A few notes on the data

- **Period:** FY 2018-2026 for the proposed (NEP) and enacted (GAA) budget; execution data (Allotments, Obligations, Disbursements) covers FY 2011-2025.
- **Two bases, not comparable.** NEP/GAA figures are **current-year new appropriations only**. The execution figures are DBM's **published agency aggregates, which lump together all available funds** -- new, automatic, and continuing appropriations. Do not read them one-to-one.
- **Continuing appropriations matter here.** CHED's all-funds **allotments often exceed its new appropriations** because large unspent balances are carried forward -- itself a symptom of the chronic under-disbursement shown later.
- **No P/A/P-level execution.** Usable FAR No. 1 records were unavailable for CHED, so absorption is shown only at the **agency level**.
- **No reorganization.** CHED has remained under the **Other Executive Offices** for the whole period; its four-program structure is stable, so program lines are comparable across all years.
- **Expense classes:** PS, MOOE, CO. **Units:** PHP billions unless noted.

---

## What CHED's budget actually funds

**CHED is, in budget terms, a student-subsidy fund with a regulator attached** -- a tension worth holding in mind throughout.

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## Big picture: large, flat, and volatile

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## Big picture: a few takeaways

- **No net growth in nine years:** ~PHP 47B in both 2018 and 2026, having peaked around PHP 50B (2018-2021) and bottomed near PHP 32B (2022).
- **The enacted budget swings hugely around the proposal** -- from +PHP 37B (2018) to -PHP 20B (2022) -- so CHED's budget is as much a *Congressional* decision as an Executive one.
- **The 2018 jump marks the arrival of free higher education:** the NEP predated full UAQTEA funding, which was added at enactment.

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## Where Congress adjusts the budget

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## Which P/A/Ps does Congress augment?

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# Section 2 of 3: Where the Money Goes

### Programs, subsidies, and expense classes

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## Composition by program

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## Composition by expense class

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## The largest P/A/Ps (FY 2026 GAA)

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# Section 3 of 3: Does CHED Spend What It Receives?

### Budget execution, FY 2011-2025 (agency aggregate, all funds)

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## Execution over time

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## Absorptive capacity

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## Execution at a glance

<table class="table table-condensed table-striped" style="font-size: 14px; color: black; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">
 <thead>
  <tr>
   <th style="text-align:left;"> Year </th>
   <th style="text-align:right;"> Allotments </th>
   <th style="text-align:right;"> Obligations </th>
   <th style="text-align:right;"> Disbursements </th>
   <th style="text-align:right;"> O/A </th>
   <th style="text-align:right;"> D/O </th>
   <th style="text-align:right;"> D/A </th>
  </tr>
 </thead>
<tbody>
  <tr>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> 2017 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 22.3 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 20.7 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 6.8 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 92.5% </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 33.1% </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 30.6% </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> 2018 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 50.5 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 28.5 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 19.3 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 56.5% </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 67.6% </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 38.2% </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> 2019 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 59.9 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 33.7 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 29.0 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 56.2% </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 86.2% </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 48.5% </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> 2020 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 72.8 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 60.0 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 45.9 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 82.3% </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 76.6% </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 63.1% </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> 2021 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 62.1 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 57.0 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 38.2 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 91.7% </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 67.1% </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 61.6% </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> 2022 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 36.3 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 29.9 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 24.2 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 82.4% </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 81.1% </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 66.8% </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> 2023 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 42.0 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 26.8 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 23.0 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 63.7% </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 86.1% </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 54.8% </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> 2024 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 52.8 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 30.4 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 23.1 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 57.5% </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 76.2% </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 43.8% </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> 2025 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 53.7 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 46.5 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 29.6 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 86.5% </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 63.7% </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 55.1% </td>
  </tr>
</tbody>
</table>

.small[
PHP billions, all-funds basis. **O/A** = obligations to allotment; **D/O** = disbursements to obligations; **D/A** = disbursements to allotment. CHED disburses only about **40-60% of its allotment** in most years; the unspent balance is carried forward, which is why the all-funds allotment often exceeds new appropriations.
]

---

## For discussion

- **1. A regulator that mostly disburses subsidies.** ~98% of CHED's budget is student subsidies; quality assurance and regulation -- its core mandate -- is ~1-2%. Is CHED resourced to actually regulate the quality of higher education, or mainly to move tuition money?

- **2. Why isn't the money reaching students?** Only ~40-60% of the allotment is disbursed in-year, and unspent free-tuition balances pile up. Where does the pipeline break -- release, SUC billing, beneficiary claims -- and how is it fixed?

- **3. Flat funding, rising demand.** The budget has not grown since 2018 while enrolment and costs have risen. Is free higher education adequately and sustainably funded at ~PHP 47B?

- **4. Living with volatility.** A +PHP 37B / -PHP 20B swing is hard to plan around for a multi-year entitlement like free tuition. How should such a large, recurring commitment be budgeted more predictably?

- **5. Who benefits within UAQTEA?** Free tuition, the Tertiary Education Subsidy and student loans serve different students. Is the mix reaching the neediest, or mainly subsidising those already in SUCs?

---

# Thank you

### Commission on Higher Education
#### A comprehensive look at the budget, 2018-2026

.footnote[Underlying data: DBM NEP & GAA documents (current-year new appropriations, P/A/P level), FY 2018-2026; DBM-published execution aggregates (all available funds, agency level), FY 2011-2025. No FAR No. 1 (P/A/P-level execution) was available for CHED.]