Perceived Program Satisfaction and Service Quality among Tertiary Education Subsidy (TES) Grantees in Midsayap, Cotabato Private Schools
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Abstract
While the Tertiary Education Subsidy (TES) program has been beneficial in alleviating financial barriers and promoting equitable access to higher education in the Philippines, there is a lack of localized and comprehensive studies that examine TES program, particularly in a municipality with a significant number of approved grantees like in Midsayap, Cotabato, Philippines. This study aimed to measure the perceived program satisfaction and service quality of TES grantees in four private institutions in the Municipality of Midsayap, focusing on satisfaction with scholarship benefits, personnel, services, and support for scholarship-related problems. A descriptive-correlational quantitative approach was employed, surveying 240 fourth-year TES grantees using adapted survey questionnaires from Banayo et al. (2023) and Galvez & Ignacio (2023) Findings revealed that most respondents (64.2%) belong to the "Poor” category, with family income less than PHP 9,250. While family income did not significantly influence satisfaction levels (x2-value=11.745, p-value=0.761), differences in satisfaction were noted based on institutional enrollment (F-value=2.457, p-value=0.064) Grantees rated scholarship personnel and service environments as "Very High" (grand mean = 4.27 and 4.24, respectively), in satisfaction. Scholarship benefits received "Very Satisfied" ratings (grand mean = 4.21); however, delays in the disbursement of funds (mean=4.05) emerged as a critical challenge. The study underscored the necessity of addressing disbursement inefficiencies through streamlined processes and enhanced coordination among stakeholders, enhancing institutional collaboration, and ensuring equitable access to quality tertiary education to sustain the program's transformative impact on reducing financial barriers and empowering low-income students. This study further recommends to future researchers to explore challenges of indigent non-TES grantees.
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