Solid North Party-list Rep. Ching Bernos on Monday called on the Commission on Higher Education and local government units (LGUs) to help senior high school (SHS) graduates who are unable to enroll for college this year due to financial constraints.

“I hope that the CHED and our LGUs will help our SHS graduates who wish to enroll for this year but are unable to do so due to poverty. Even simply guiding them towards available scholarship programs that they could access would already be a huge boost,” Bernos, a member of the House Committee on Higher and Technical Education, said in a statement.

She also called on CHED and LGUs to be proactive in identifying students who may be eligible for higher-learning subsidies, emphasizing the need to provide various government scholarships to those who truly need them.

The CHED is expecting at least 394,000 SHS graduates to enroll in colleges and universities for the Academic Year (AY) 2026-2027.

Meanwhile, the Tertiary Education Subsidy, Tulong Dunong Program, Student Loan Program and Presidential Merit Scholarship Programs, among others, provide support to students for higher education.

This year, there are at least 20,000 scholarship slots available for the first semester of AY 2026-2027 under the PHP600-million Presidential Merit Scholarship Program.

Bernos also appealed to the government to provide work opportunities for SHS graduates who fail to enroll for the incoming semester but wish to continue their college education in the future.

“Kung hindi talaga kayang mag-enroll ngayong semestre, baka maaaring i-ugnay natin sila sa mga trabaho para mapag-ipunan muna nila pansamantala ang mga gastusin para sa pag-aaral sa kolehiyo (If they could not really enroll this semester, maybe we could link them to jobs so that they can save for the meantime money for their college education),” she said. (PNA)