DILIMAN, Quezon City — Expected to help financially distressed parents in sending their adult children to school, some 137,000 college students nationwide will benefit from the subsidy to be given by the government for their children's tertiary education.

According to lawmakers, with P2.06 billion, set aside in the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA) for the government’s Tulong Dunong program (TDP), each student beneficiary will receive P15,000 in cash assistance this year.

In a welcome announcement, House higher and technical education committee chair Quezon City District IV representative Marvin Rillo disclosed that under the 2025 GAA, Congress earmarked the sum of P2.06 billion for the TDP, which provides grantees with cash aid of P7,500 per semester, or P15,000 per academic year.

“We are absolutely determined to keep up the annual funding for the TDP, which has helped to lessen the financial difficulties of students pursing their college education,” Rillo pointed out.

The TDP, under the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd), is among the government’s tertiary education subsidy programs that aims to support at least the partial cost of college schooling, inclusive of education-related expenses of the grantee.

CHEd reminded parents and students that in order to avail of the TDP, both new and continuing grantees must be enrolled in any undergraduate program in a CHEd-accredited public or private college or university.

In addition, beneficiaries are also required to submit certified true copies or electronically generated certificates of enrollment in the CHEd-recognized school they have enrolled in.