THE COMMISSION on Higher Education has stopped its “Study Now, Pay Later” because of “extremely low” payment rates.

CHED Chairman Prospero De Vera III said the government had to forego some loans because most borrowers could not get jobs after graduation thus had no means to pay back their loans.

The program provided loans to college students to be paid after graduation.

“The payment rate was extremely low. It was less than 10 percent. The government was unable to collect because after the students graduate, government is unable to go after them anymore because if they don’t get jobs after they graduate, how can they pay their loans?” De Vera said.

“So, the CHED has stopped the Study Now, Pay Later Program because it is a Study Now, Pay Never Program,” he added.

CHED allocated P1 billion for enrolled students under the Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education to assist financially strapped students.

De Vera said the money from the fund will be used to give students loans that they must repay before receiving their college degrees.

“It is a system similar to what some of our universities like UP is implementing now,” he said.