Decreto A.Y. 15-16

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THE OFFICIAL INVESTIGATIVE JOURNAL OF THE HERALDO FILIPINO

/heraldofilipino

AUGUST 2016 | PAGE 1

• Budget and population • Externally funded scholarships • Fund-raising activities • Scholarship requirements

heraldofilipino.com @heraldofilipino

AUGUST 2016

In the name of Creating Possibilities From marathons that sent you running, pricey raffle tickets encouraged to be sold out, and the Piso Para Sa Iskolar piggy banks all over the campus that resided longer than most of us in the University, the 20 percent scholarship population targeted by all Lasallian schools is still far from De La Salle University – Dasmariñas’ reach. Using the internal fund collected from the students’ tuition and in partnership with external benefactors, the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Mission, External Affairs and Advancement Office (OVCMEAA) and

the Student Scholarship Office (SSO) struggles on its way to “creating possibilities” for deserving students. In fact, for years of providing financial aid to the less capable students of DLSU-D, the SSO computed a dismaying 7.18 and 12.52 percent scholars population in the first and second semester of academic year (AY) 2015-2016, respectively. With the annual tuition increase and yearly fund-raising events for scholars, it’s troubling how the University continues to decrease the scholarship population rather than increasing it. Just look at

the varsity team’s decreased grants this AY and the drastic change in the Performing Arts Group (PAG)’s scholarship grants wherein a fixed amount is now equivalent to their percentages. This year, Decreto unfolds the processes of the SSO to the DLSU-D community to inform, especially the students, how much budget is really spent for the scholars and if it is worth their every penny. We also tackled how deserving DLSU-D scholars were picked and why we never hit the 20 percent goal aspired by all the Lasallian schools in the Philippines.

Budget and population

EXTERNAL AID. The breakdown of the donations for scholars in cash and in kind from June 1, 2015 to May 31, 2016. Infographic by Christian Mateo

The budget allotted for scholarship in the second semester of academic year (AY) 20152016 was P25 million, which accommodates 62 internally funded scholarship programs with 1, 038 scholarship grantees, according to former Student Scholarship Office (SSO) coordinator Eric Vargas. On the other hand, there are 39 externally funded scholarship programs granted by government and non-government organizations with 793 scholarship grantees. While the budget for internally funded scholarship programs comes from the general fund from the students’ miscellaneous fee, Vargas said there is no specified amount allotted for scholarship from the students’ enrollment fee. Based on the University’s Scholarship Report as of the second semester, AY 2015-2016, the most populated internally funded scholarship program is the Student Assistantship Program with 100 percent tuition and lab fee discount, which is granted to 159 students. In contrast, the most populated externally funded scholarship program comes from the Department of Labor and Employment, which gives cash directly to 246 students. While Vargas couldn’t specify the certain funds that make up the 62 internally funded scholarship programs, the budget division depends on the certain standards set for different programs. He furthered the University does not prioritize any scholarship programs,

but budget-wise, there has to be an arrangement. For example, the Enhanced Brother President Scholarship Program or EBPSP scholarship which is given to the children of DLSU-D and DLSU Health Science Institute employees has strict “guidelines” that overrules the University’s scholarship prioritization. “Sa EBPSP kasi, may guidelines diyan na 100, 75, [and] 50 [percent tuition discount ang makukuha ng mga anak ng DLSU-D employees]. So automatic ‘yun na hindi puwedeng bawasan [ang discount ng EBPSP grantees]. Because it’s already in the guidelines na benefit ng employees ‘yun,” Vargas clarified. He explained that whatever remains out of the P25 million budget after being utilized by the EBPSP will be distributed to other financial aid grantees. However, as stated in an article in the Heraldo Filipino Volume 30 Issue 1, scholarship programs like Performing Arts Group (PAG) suffered budget changes where percentage discounts are equated to fixed amounts of P24, 000 to P9, 000. Scholarship population decline Based on the SSO’s Comparative Statistics on Internally and Externally Funded Scholarship Headcount, out of the 14, 628 enrolled students in the second semester, AY 2015-2016, only 12.52 percent are scholars—a far-off count from the 20 percent scholarship population goal of La Salle schools for the continuity of St. John Baptist de see BUDGET/ page 2


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