COMMISSION on Higher Education Chairman Prospero De Vera III said that over two million college students benefited from the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act.

During the Day 2 of the Duterte Legacy Summit, De Vera said that 1.97 million students from 220 state universities and colleges benefited from the free tuition law.

The Tertiary Education Subsidy and Tulong Dunong Program, which were also granted under the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education statute, helped 364,168 students, De Vera added.

The CHED chairman said that the regions with the highest poverty rates had the greatest number of recipients of the Tertiary Education Subsidy and Tulong Dunong Program.

The Bangsamoro area, which had the highest poverty rate at 39.4 percent as of the first semester of 2021, had 17,021 beneficiaries for the Tertiary Education Subsidy and Tulong Dunong Program.