ISSN (Online): 2455-3662 EPRA International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research (IJMR) - Peer Reviewed Journal Volume: 7| Issue: 10| October 2021|| Journal DOI: 10.36713/epra2013 || SJIF Impact Factor 2021: 8.047 || ISI Value: 1.188 2021 EPRA IJMR | www.eprajournals.com | Journal DOI URL: https://doi.org/10.36713/epra2013 350 TRANSITIONAL EXPERIENCES OF TERTIARY EDUCATION SUBSIDY GRANTEES: A QUALITATIVE STUDY Helen C. Fuentes, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Eastern Samar State University, Eastern Samar, Philippines Article DOI: https://doi.org/10.36713/epra8694 DOI No: 10.36713/epra8694 ABSTRACT This is a qualitative research describing the transitional experiences of Tertiary Education Subsidy grantees in Eastern Visayas. The participants were fifteen (15) purposively selected key informants from different SUCs in Region VIII. Using thematic analysis, the results revealed that prior to inclusion to the Tertiary Education Subsidy Grant the participants experience financial difficulties in sustaining their school and household needs; as a TES grantee, participants indicated a positive impact of the grant to their family and personal economic capacity; participants reported the problems they encountered such as delayed release of fund and difficulty in the enrolment of new cash card; the grantees claimed that they were thankful for the said grant and expressed their gratitude to the government. KEYWORDS: TES Grantees, transitional experiences, personality adjustments, subsidy INTRODUCTION Education is generally accepted as a public good and human right. There is no doubt that government should subsidize education. Government in various countries has aimed at providing “opportunities for everyone who aspires to higher education to attend programs appropriate to their abilities”. Until now, making advanced education more accessible to poor however is a significant goal of any administration and the fundamental instrument to accomplish this goal is financing public advanced education foundations HEIs (Temple, 2009). In the Philippines, the public higher education enrolment trends increases with the implementation of the Free Tuition Law where the student financing subsidy is provided on a far larger scale. Generally, the enrolment status of HEIs in the country decreased by 16.93% from AY 2016-2017 to AY 2017-2018, this decrease was associated with the implementation of K-12. However, an increase was recorded from AY 2017-2018 to AY 2019-2020 with the total enrolment of 2,981,803; 3,212,542; and 3,408,425 for AYs 2017-2018; 2018-2019; and 2019-2020; respectively. Moreover, the data show rising number of graduates in the last four academic years with total number of 645,973; 703,327; 751,310; and 796,576 for AYs 2017-2017; 2017-2018; 2018- 2019; and 2019-2020; respectively (CHED Higher Education Indicators, 2020). In 2018, the Tertiary Education Subsidy was realized through the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Memorandum Circular No. 2018-0004. TES for Filipino students being one of the five components of RA No. 10931 is directed by the UniFAST Board and the implementers of the program are SUCs and select LUCs. The Tertiary Education Subsidy was set up for all Filipino students who took on undergraduate-post- secondary secondary programs of SUCs and LUCs private and all TVIs. The TES is the initiative of the Philippine government to provide poor but capable students with access to higher education. It intends to raise the quantity of advanced education graduates among financially disable families through direct arrangement of financing for their schooling. A TES grantee gets a yearly subsidy of Php40,000 altogether. This incorporates Php2,500 per semester for course books and other learning materials and Php3,500 each month for 10 month time as allowance. It is then the main purpose of the study to describe the transitional experiences of the TES grantees in Eastern Visayas. METHODS This study utilized thematic analysis as the method of analyzing qualitative data. The participants were purposively selected from six (6) out of 10 State Universities in the Eastern Visayas Region, Philippines. These