Review body drafts ‘alternative’ student code — Page 3 Fates & Fortunes
Philippine Collegian Opisyal na lingguhang pahayagan ng mga mag-aaral ng Unibersidad ng Pilipinas - Diliman 14 Hunyo 2011 Taon 89, Blg. 1
Terminal Cases Delfin Mercado
I
Half of UPD freshies under ‘millionaire bracket’
Number of Bracket A students surges by over 3,000% Marjohara Tucay & Keith Richard Mariano Over half of the incoming freshmen in UP Diliman, or 900 out of an estimated 1,750 first year students were classified under Bracket A of the Socialized Tuition and Financial Assistance Program (STFAP), and will be paying P1,500 per unit for the
Kasaysayan at tradisyon ng Kulê Lathalain Pahina 9
current academic year, according to data from the Office of the UP President. The number of Bracket A freshmen in Diliman recorded this year is over 3,000 percent higher than the total 29 undergraduate students classified in the said bracket last year. Students who are classified under Bracket A are assumed to have a gross annual family income of over P1 million. Most of the first year students classified in the highest bracket this semester have “self-declared” their family income, said UP President Alfredo Pascual in a dialogue with
student leaders on June 3. Meanwhile, only 40 freshmen were classified under Brackets E1 and E2 and will be granted free tuition, constituting around 7 percent of the total number of freshmen who applied for the STFAP, based on data posted by the Office of Scholarships and Student Services (see sidebar). Also, for 2011, only 9 percent or 212 of the 2,265 undergraduate students who applied for STFAP were assigned to the lowest brackets of the Alphabetic Bracketing Scheme (ABS) of the STFAP. Of the 212 recipients of free
Pagguho Ang mga hindi ng ilusyon itinuturo ngunit Editoryal Pahina 2 dapat matutunan sa kinder Kultura Pahina 8
Art work by RD Aliposa tuition, 179 were bracketed under Bracket E1, of which 35 students are freshmen. Meanwhile, 33 students were qualified under Bracket E2, five of which are freshmen, and are to receive a stipend of P12,000 every semester. “The data we now have show how two decades of the implementation of STFAP have increased those who pay more and decrease those who pay less,” Student Regent Ma. Kristina Conti said. Continued on page 5»
5
resented bringing all the secondhand books I bought on impulse last summer and never finished reading. It was early morning, and with the heavy load on my back, I bumped into almost everyone along the way. I kept on muttering sorry’s as people glared at me, but when a bus sped by and mud smeared my crisp white polo, I lost my polite self. I cursed the bus driver for being reckless and the heavens for dumping rain. Here I am back in the city jungle, where the only water that won’t taint your shirt comes in bottles, where decent concrete paths are not for pedestrians but for parked cars. It has been a long, dreary trip from Batangas to Quezon City, and every minute in this jungle covers my already soiled polo with more grime and filth. The series of mishaps in my return to the city continued. I found out I left my wallet at home, which meant I had to go back tomorrow if I wanted to pay my tuition on time. I got lucky that I had loose change in for fare. Walking along EDSA seems a tedious task, especially with a bag full of unfinished books on my back. But forgetting my wallet seemed predestined, for I learned halfway through the enrolment that I owed the library and would not be cleared for enrolment. To be honest, I was not worried for a second. I have always thought of quitting school, and could not help but think that my library problem was cosmos replying in the affirmative. People will say that I am mad to treat misfortune as serendipity. My scientific classmates would mock me, and tell me that fate is for people who cannot reconcile imagination and logic. But logic is so overrated, especially in this time of loose ends and unfinished business. We try to fight some things, yet we end up losing anyway. It doesn’t matter if one walks or runs in the rain; without an umbrella, you’ll get soaked. We can pray for peace in Libya or Yemen, but a trip to McDo cancels out our graces. A cheeseburger bought is a donation made to the war that kills Libyans and Yemeni. It does not matter that we pity the starving Africans, we still subscribe to European ideals that once (or perhaps still does) regarded Africans as lesser beings. The excesses of this world teach us to think and feel beyond our means, but the excess itself is the limiting agent of our lives. It’s just the old world rotating each day in a predetermined
Continued on page 5»