Cebu City, Philippines—The Commission on Higher Education in Central Visayas (CHED-7) has already started accepting scholarship applications for the coming school year.
Melissa Castillote, education supervisor and coordinator on Tuition and Scholarship Program of CHED-7, that the scholarship program is open to all incoming freshmen, especially those coming from indigent families.
Each scholar who will be enrolled in the program can avail of the cash grant, ranging from P20,000 to P60,000 per year.
The cash grant will depend on whether or not they are enrolled as full merit or half merit scholars, and if they will be admitted in public or private universities and colleges.
“For PESFA (Private Education Student Financial Assistance), since the students will study in a private school, the higher is the financial benefits that they’ll get because there’s no assistance given by the government. So since sa public, free naman ta for the local universities and colleges and sa state universities and colleges,” Castillote said.
She added that those incoming freshmen who will qualify for their scholarship program shall only select programs or courses that are included in their Science, Technology, Engineering, Agriculture and Mathematics (STEAM) discipline.
Applicants of the scholarship program will be ranked based on their grades. The deadline for the submission is on May 31, 2020.
Those interested can either visit the CHED-7’s regional office in Sudlon, Lahug or email chedro7@ched.gov.ph or chedroscholarship@ched.gov.ph.
According to Dr. Josefino Ronquillo, supervising education program specialist of CHED-7, the priority program or courses were identified by the agency’s technical working group, so those incoming freshmen may enroll in programs that have higher demands, which he described as under-subscribed.
“We came up with the particular redesigning of the curriculum of its structure that it would be a combination between the agriculture and also the business. And we have some other combination like the agri-economics and the agritourism,” Ronquillo said.
Last year, the agency had around 2,408 scholars out of 10,000 students who applied. /bmjo