University of Makati waives tuition for transferees from calamity areas

Students from areas affected by super typhoon Yolanda may enrol for free at the University of Makati (UMak) this semester, the city government said Monday.

 

Makati City Hall said Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay Jr. has instructed the city-run university was instructed to accept “emergency transferees” from Yolanda-devastated areas, and waive a "token" fee of up to P3,000.

 

“We want to help displaced college students resume their normal school activities as soon as possible to enable them to recover faster from their traumatic experience.  Many of them may already be here in Metro Manila living with relatives, so we would like to offer them the chance to enrol at UMak now,” Binay said on the city's website.

 

A news release from the city government said the University of Makati collects a token fee of P1,000 from Makati residents and P3,000 from non-Makati residents each semester.

 

It also cited a report by the Department of Education showing Yolanda damaged some 3,171 schools and displaced some 600,000 public school students.

In early November, the Commission on Higher Education ordered the temporary cessation of operations in colleges and universities in Western Visayas and in severely-affected areas in Central and Eastern Visayas.

 

CHED said the order was issued "in view of the large-scale devastation and tremendous human suffering" caused by the typhoon. 

 

UMak executive vice president Dr. Edita Chan said they will accept transferees in their junior and senior years in college.

 

She said the university has scrapped the enrolment for freshmen, with the implementation of K to 12 last year.

 

“The university shares the desire of our good mayor to bring hope to the young survivors in the worst-hit localities.  Since last year, however, we have been implementing the senior high school program under K to 12, so we have no first and second year college students to date,” Chan said.

 

She said those in first or second year college can enrol in Grades 11 and 12 at the so-called Higher School of UMak, though she added this may not be advisable.

 

Chan said displaced students may want to finish their studies soonest, "and afterwards, find a job to be able to help their families rebuild their lives.”

 

The university will ask transferees to present a certification from any official of their respective schools. Students without certifications or cannot present school records may be admitted provisionally "subject to verification when school operations (in the Visayas) are back to normal," UMak said.

 

Prospective transferees will undergo an interview and will be asked to go over the course syllabus to check which subjects they have already taken. — JDS, GMA News