By Atty. Antonio P. Pekas
Being referred to is enrolment time. For students with no scholarships, so many of their parents’ troubles are financial woes. They have to raise money for tuition fees, miscellaneous charges, books and materials for laboratories, and for so many other things. One of the biggest is the budget for a student’s board and lodging.
Transportation expenses can also be a big problem if a kid has to travel far (e.g. Mindanao students who have to fly to Manila) or has a lot of laboratory requirements that have to be bought. Examples of these are chemicals or equipment. Dentistry students have to scout for people they can experiment on. From the extraction of bad teeth to the cementing of holes on these. I have seen on TV an “iskwater” in Metro Manila who had sold all his teeth one by one at P200.00 per tooth to dentistry students. Others, like medical students have to pay for live frogs for dissecting in the lab.
Each and every parent has unique problems relative to the studies of their kids this time of year.
Anyway, here is my experience. My kid just graduated from senior high so he is due to enter college.
Being the parent who stayed long in college and having more exposure regarding careers or professions I carried more the burden regarding his going to college.
First and foremost, I tried to influence him to go to a state university, not being run by capitalists. Quality education should not be for profit. But you might argue that good profit can go along with good education. Or good education means good profit.
Secondly, going to a government school means it is for free. Don’t you like having quality education for free?
And I never forgot what his elementary teacher said long ago that he should be in a more competitive school. Thus, I made the kid apply for admission in the University of the Philippines. He made the cut for some units of the university like UP Los Banos, UP Tacloban, UP Mindanao and UP Cebu. A slot for him was reserved by UP Tacloban for him so I was preparing to fly with him and then leave him there after enrolment. This would accomplish two things. He will learn how to deal with academic requirements and how to live independently from parents. I still think that real education is the thing you get from the school of hard knocks.
Thirdly, in UP you don’t just learn through academics. You also learn through extra-curricular activities. In short, you also learn some “kalokohan” from real life. Some got carried away by these and never graduated, but it should be worth the risk.
Lastly, UP is a big university so one can have more connections after graduation developed in campus or as an alumnus.
Did I accomplish my goal? Nope. I was about to go and reserve our plane ticket when the kid changed his mind about enrolling in UP Tacloban. While thousands are dying to get admitted to the university, my kid gave the chance away just like that. UP Los Banos was a better alternative but they are quite reluctant to accept my kid as he indicated in his application that it was his second choice of campus. That is something I am working on, for that to be reconsidered.
Another application for admission he filed was for CLSU (Central Luzon State University). I have met a number of graduates from that school and they were good, world class. They have a 700+ hectares for a campus (UP Los Banos has almost a 1,000 hectares). He was offered a slot there, but again, at the last minute, he did not take the offer.
So where to send him for college. As far as I am concerned as a parent, I have given him good choices to have a better shot at having a good career but he did not take what were offered.
At least, I have fulfilled my duty as a parent. It is up to the kid now. I have to take comfort in the fact that everything happens for the best. God knows best.**
