Survival Mode is Real!

by Miguel Buzon

With each sip of coffee is one Iskolar away from breaking down in tears amid hellish semesters. Adding fuel to the fire are the country’s economic crises and the commercialized educational system which deplete the students’ morale and pockets.

Students mainly rely on scholarships to financially sustain their studies. However, recipients from most government scholarship programs such as the Department of Science and Technology — Science Education Institute (DOST-SEI) and Commission on Higher Education (CHED) experience delays in receiving their stipend. Hence, it is commonplace for anxiety to loom over students as they frantically wait for their monthly allowance. When kaya ang stipend? Survival mode is real!

Many have expressed their dismay at the DOST-SEI Undergraduate Scholarship Program regarding the delayed stipend release according to an article last 2020. These delays force students to resort to other means, may it be by loaning or having to work part-time just to fulfill their needs, which clearly defeats the purpose of scholarship programs.

Although others have personally contacted agencies such as DOST, they were met with a constant ringing and a receiving beep at the end. Such instances are the fruits of long bureaucratic hurdles in the government, added to their lack of transparent communication with their scholars.

This became apparent with the delayed release of the DOST-SEI Undergraduate Scholarship stipend in the last quarter of 2023. There were speculations that the delay was due to DOST waiting for the Department of Budget and Management’s (DBM) approval for their requested funds.

However, upon an email correspondence with a DOST scholar, DBM clarified that under the 2023 General Appropriations Act, the “amount was fully released to DOST-SEI and made available for obligation,” even attaching a screenshot of the memorandum they sent to DOST Director Josette T. Biyo. Notably, DBM cited the SEI’s inability to disburse or utilize a significant amount of the released cash due to “documentation concerns in the facilitation of the release of funds to beneficiaries.”

Aside from these bureaucratic barriers, their failure to update their scholars regarding the cause of these stipend delays exacerbates their apprehension. As there was no assurance when we would be receiving our stipends, scholars from lower middle to lower income families receive additional burden. One even had to stop attending their onsite classes since transportation was too costly.

As scholars and students, we duly do our part and maintain the required minimum grades amid a strenuous academic workload. It is truly disheartening that in the upcoming semesters, the students will expect such delays yet again.

Government scholarship implementing bodies should reassess how they handle the financial aid of students, and create a better system that ensures no student should be left behind. It has been an issue ever since, yet they stand idle while letting it worsen because we have gotten used to it.

There will be no progress as long as the youth receives the bare minimum treatment.