SENATE BILL SEEKS TO BAR WITHHOLDING OF STUDENT RECORDS OVER UNPAID FEES

THE Senate is seeking to prohibit educational institutions from withholding students’ official records over unpaid tuition and other school fees.

Senate Bill 1964, otherwise known as the Right to Student Records Act, seeks to bar educational institutions from unreasonably withholding or delaying the release of official school records in cases where the student or former student is verified to be financially-incapacitated.

The bill’s author, Sen. Risa Hontiveros, noted how financial constraints remain a significant barrier to educational completion and that many families remain vulnerable to poverty or financial instability.

She also cited cases where educational institutions had withheld school records for unjustified reasons, including preventing students from transferring schools.

“This measure empowers parents, guardians, students, and former students to file written complaints before the appropriate educational authorities and institutionalizes the authority of the Department of Education (DepEd), Commission on Higher Education (CHED), and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) to investigate violations, impose administrative penalties, and monitor the compliance of educational institutions to ensure the Act is fully implemented,” she said in her explanatory note.

Hontiveros also clarified that the proposed measure would not prevent educational institutions from pursuing lawful and reasonable means of collecting unpaid obligations.

In fact, she said the bill would help educational institutions by establishing a Student Records Assistance Mechanism which would aid students in paying their outstanding financial balance.

“Equally important is ensuring that private educational institutions are paid these outstanding balances in order to sustain their operations. This bill establishes a Student Records Assistance Mechanism to support the full costs of outstanding financial balances of financially-incapacitated students and former students in educational institutions,” Hontiveros explained.

Under the proposed measure, the assistance shall only cover verified unpaid tuition and other authorized school fees necessary for the release of official school records.

A student or former student may avail of the assistance only once and the assistance shall be directly remitted to the concerned educational institution.

For tertiary education, the assistance shall be administered by the Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education (UniFAST), in coordination with the CHED and the TESDA, while for basic education, the assistance shall be administered by the DepEd through its Government Assistance and Subsidies Office.