Minutes of Lets Clarify June 14, 2012

Mr. Richard Gonzalo, OSSS (Office of Scholarships and Student Services) Overview of the Organization: Vision a university that will continuously support students who can be agents of change for natl progress In charge of STFAP, loans, student assistantships, private and govt sponsorships

OSSS is for UP Diliman only, but assists other offices of student affairs in other members of the system. OSSS is linked to other OSS units. It is the coordinating office, sets direction for financial assistance, assists others in implementing STFAP and giving govt scholarships 3 financial assistance programs 1. Tuition subsidy covers one time tuition payments 2. Living allowance = cost of living on a monthly/per sem basis 3. Deferral mechanisms- postpone cash payments Bracket Assignment process 1. Data is provided by admissions and processed by OSSS 2. Data is processed by UP Computer center and OVPAA 3. Data is processed by Diliman Committee on Scholarships and Financial Assistance (DCSFA) (OSSS head, OVCSA, USC Chair, Registrar) 4. Data is processed by University Comittee on scholarships and Financial Assistance (UCSFA) - Home visit to verify the data submitted by applicant - Bracket depends on what the committee deems is what you need - There will be referrals for counselling if needed - Anytime, you can confirm your bracket assignment Maximising OSSS Financcial Assistance Plan cash flows for entire semester Get info about financial assistance and requirements Prepare financial assistance packages Visit OSSS

Operational performance of STFAP (shows graph of stfap beneficiaries since 2007 2011, data for 2007 being as follows) Bracket E1 and E2 - 1200 Bracket D - 2085 Bracket C - 2263 Bracket B - 2911 Bracket A - 3541 (Statistics are from OSSS, based on requests to be assigned to lower brackets.) Tumataas ang lahat ng stats per year dahil humingi ang mga tao since freshies sila.

Question from President Pascual So all students are covered in this graph? All students are paying this tuition fee by 2011? Out of how many?

Gonzalo -Between 6000-9000 students that graduate

President Pascual Kailangan malinaw ang stats. We should not be debating based on speculations and assumptions. Minsan debate nang debate pero panay assumptions. Kailangan common ang basis ng pinag-uusapan. Yung 3542, the total number that applied for stfap. Meaning, the ones that want to change their bracket, for various reasons. But if the total # of students in Diliman are 17k, then only this certain amount of people are applying? Meaning 13500 students are already happy with their brackets. They could be bracket a, b, c, d

Gonzalo - A or B lang ang the rest.

President Pascual - So walang issue. Theyre fine with bracket a and b. so were talking about the 3500 who arent. where is the data from 90% unsatisfied? Nag-focus ba sa mga nagappeal? Or 90% of the 17k population of students? Diliman ang pinakamaraming bracket a, percent wise.

Gonzalo Beneficiaries from both numeric and alphabetic subsidy systems: (shows that between 2002 - 2006, number of beneficiaries decrease. Then since tuition fee increase in 2007, number of beneficiaries increase between 2007 - 2011) From 07-08, out of 3500+ na apps, after batch results nags-skew sa bracket c and d. when you cite STFAP data you should always put the date. Kasi some data is gathered too early in the year, while other applications are being processed. Most processes end by January.

Pres. Pascual Im looking at a Kule report. 202 ang bracket E. July 2011 ang data na ito. But in the graph displayed, 417 ang bracket E. Ito, pag ibang kausap, ibang data ang binibigay. Cause there are a lot of offices with the data.

Marjohara Tucay But when we got that data, hindi pa nga tapos ang process.

Pres. Pascual Which leads us to wrong conclusions. Hindi pala ganoong ka-konti.

Gonzalo Data from OUR is a source of discrepancy kasi may mga hindi nage-enroll. Sa OSSS, we gather the data from enrolled students na naga-apply for STFAP. OUR data is given at the start of the sem pa lang, meaning hindi pa tapos ang gathering of data. This data is just for STFAP. There are others still that get scholarships elsewhere.

Pres. Pascual Pag nagka-scholarship, inaalis yung tao sa bracket E because that person has a scholarship. Of those getting scholarships, walang data siguro sa kanila. Kung walang scholarship, papasok sa e1 e2. Kung sinama ang data, saka makikita kung gaano nga karami ang mga galing poor families. Ang gulo ng data. Clarify natin that this is from the 3541 students in your statistics, not the 17k total enrolled. This isnt conclusive data also because if you have a scholarship, youre not part of the data for bracketing.

Gonzalo - But President, by the time this data was gathered, tapos na ang processing ng information

Pascual I think the best starting point is to discuss our basic principles for scholarship assistance. Accessibility. No student will be denied education because of financial ability. Klaro sa isip ko yun, it should also be clear for you. Is UP within the reach of students coming from poor families? By poor I mean zero income to 135,000 a year. Nagb-blur yung issue. Critics say stfap is to blame for rich people getting into up. Let me also clarify. Admission to UP is blind. We dont look at financial/economic status, just UPCAT scores and high school grades. Maraming adjustments and ginagawa based on what high school you come from/what region. Pero minor lang ang effect nun. Pag sinabing mayayaman ang dumadami sa UP, it means more of them got high upcat scores and hs grades. People say that we are letting people in due to financial constraints. STFAP has nothing to do with the number of students from rich families. May isyu pa ba? Ask now para wala nang baggage Tucay 49% are from public schools, 51% are from private, only 27% declared theyre bracket a. data is from OUR. Standstill since 2009. Maraming nakakapasang mayaman sir. Pres. Pascual The issues I hear are STFAP, dumadami ang mayayaman. Kung yun ang isyu its not stfap to blame. Kung tama yung sinabi ni Marjohara na steady naman, then why are there more people in bracket a now? Because were making sure that students are honest. May mga students who have not submitted proof and have not been honest? Does that sound logical? Sa makatuwid, people have been hiding by the default bracket b. Tucay no show is 25%. Hindi lang dahil sa walang pambayad. But were wondering why talaga. Pres. Pascual well were looking into that too. Maraming hindi nag-eenroll kasi some have their minds set on what school to get to. Some really find a way. Marami naming kumukuha ng tests sa maraming schools. UP Ateneo, Lasallle. Yung mga hindi nageenroll either top or bottom of stats. Oblation scholars, 50. 6 ang nawala. Libre na yon. Hind nag-enroll. Siguro hindi problema ang tuition, it could have been a personal preference. We cant say. We cant trace it. We cant speculate but we know that thats been stable. Beyond the stats of people who enrol, we cant say why they didnt. Sa mga galing sa province, we do want more from there. From poorer families too. Bihira nalang ang promdi dito. Kung gusto natin na we get more students from the proving, scrap stfap is not the reason. Solutions

1. Get more provincial students to take the UPCAT 2. Make those students more prepared to take it Tayo, may mga review centers sa Katipunan lang. Ang dami. Sa province walang ganoon. Sa isang province, a mayor got the best students to get review for UPCAT. May mga gems naman eh. We have Oblation scholars from Benguet, Mindanao. Dati, pinipilit talagang kunin ang UPCAT sa mga barrios sa Bulacan. Show of hands. Ano bang mga bracket niyo? (people attending forum raise hands, bracket A being majority) Show of hands. Ilan naman ang nagkaproblema? (one person raises hands) So sa dami natin sa audi, isa lang ang nagkaproblema. So ano pang mga questions niyo?

Q Im bracket D. from 1st to 3rd year I was e1. Nung nag-apply ako sa presidential scholarship, tumaas bracket ko cause it looked like a subsidy for my fund. Isnt that kind of ironic? I was given a recommendation to get a scholarship and when I got it tumaas bracket ko. Eh di sana di ako nakakuha ng scholarship. Kapatid ko tumaas din bracket so hindi siya nakakapagaral. Pres. Pascual I dont get the logic. You got a scholarship. And this happened and you didnt appeal? Mahirap po sa kapatid ko

Pres. Pascual in the real world: you dont get things handed to you I have to give P2,500 at the start of this sem isnt that unfair? Pres. Pascual Hindi ako naniniwala sa ganitong situation not unless you did what you can to help yourself and you failed. - We applied Pres. Pascual - But you didnt appeal. You are complaining. If you appealed and nothing happened, then therem you can complain. May mga proceso tayo dito. Ang UP student, dapat persistent. Be persistent. So just because you got a higher bracket and you didnt get your appeal, you didnt enroll. Ang hina yata nun. We have an appeal system, you have a scholarship, minasama mo pa.

Q You said the remaining 13.5k of students are apparently happy with their brackets? Isnt it safe to say that maraming students and satisfied sa bracket because theyre paying base tuition of 300? Nung pumasok ako, may assumption ako na base tuition ang 1k. Baka po pwedeng tanggalin ang bracket b certification and give everyone equal opportunity to all? Pres. Pascual Certification keeps people honest. Not having it would be a problem. Like what others do in the real world, may mga taong hindi nagdeclare ng tamang income tax. But perhaps implementing no certification will make people more honest. Pres. Pascual It hasnt. Rationale is this. I wasnt in the faculty when I was made president but I was on the board. There was a parking space issue. I saw the stats. Ilan ang kotseng pumapasok dito? Lets be honest, to have a car youd need to come from a family with an income of at least 1million. And Ive been proven right by the actual results. 3000% increase among bracket a. freshmen alone. I dont see why we should bring back the old rules when this makes us all more honest.

Q: Points on STFAP system 1. 2. 3. Effect of bracketing system, since 1989-2010, students who are obtaining free tuition had multiple brackets. Ngayon 2 tiers lang. Multiplier effect of alphabetic bracket system Appeals process home visits arent done to all that appeal Pres. Pascual - Hindi talaga siya practical. Pero everyone has the equal chances of being visited. Lets apply what we teach. Kung naniniwala tayo sa stat sampling then gawin natin. Nagbago ba tayo ng base tuition from P1k to P1.5k? Pres. Pascual - Hindi ako naniniwala diyan. I need to see the study for this. Ang klaro sa akin ang board approval. Full cost of education is 130,000. Walang nakasabi dun na may base tuition. Irrelevant ang base tuition. You resort to technicality when it is convenient.

4.

Q Regarding the previous question, I take offense that you disregarded his issue that he had tuition problems. But the reality is that there are so many people who have a hard time paying tuition. Pres. Pascual - Hindi ko minasama. I understand the reality.

Q - Lack of citing of bracket a and bracket B at the OUR. For me, tama ang implementing bracket B certification, but we havent looked into why there is a bracket a. Also we dont cite the benefit of what this can give us. We cant fully study the program because of lack of info regarding these brackets.

Q - Regarding stfap process- Thankful ako kung bakit may bracket E. No one rejected kung bakit may bracket A. Thankful din ako sa bracket B. Kung gusto mong mag-appeal, mag-appeal ka. Madali lang mag-appeal. On data lets be truthful. Lets not interpret it based on personal interpretations. May sariling interpretation ang OSSS na hindi nakikita sa phil collegian. Have we cited stories who have successfully graduated under the bracket e2? We always read about the problems of the STFAP when its not all problems. If anything, the problem is the abrupt announcements. Lets be thankful na may ganitong program. We cannot simply reject a program where many benefit. Bottom line: If people are benefitting from a program, we cant just scrap it. Pres. Pascual If our student leaders took the time to help those appealing etc, then mas marami tayong magagawa. We need to see the big picture. But we still need to be alert. Create a culture of promptness. Im ready to listen. Kung may issues pa you can send a note or email.

Procedural Questions: Q -Sa mga nag-aapeal, pwedeng mas maluwag ang loan system? Also, appeal for late payment? At baka pwedeng makipag-ugnayan ang OSSS sa BIR para mas maayos ang data. Sana hindi masyadong mahigpit ang loan because it gets in the way of prerog Gonzalo you can get another scholarship on top of your loan. Bracketing isnt just based on income. In the case of the presidential scholarship, it wouldnt have been the main factor in why your bracket changed. Were working on another financial assistance. We only have five kinds, may temporary, may nagbibigay ng subsidy, may nagde-delay ng bayad etc Regarding BIR, tax returns are only issued to certain people. There are regulations to the distribution of them. You can get the ITR on or before April 15. We cant currently reconcile the data with other offices. Every other month lang.

Loans policy as much as we want to extend the loan, were reprimanded by COA because its a violation of our contract. Were working on a diff kind of financial assistance with different rules with COA

Q. Have you looked into the idea of having a Study Now, Pay Late program? Realistically, income capacity wont change within a short span so maybe this can help Gonzalo Were looking into it as well. We have existing long term loans from CHED pero maliit lang ang amount and its limit to certain courses only.

Q. Sana magawan ng paraan ang pabago-bago na reqts for STFAP. Q: Bakit walang STFAP for masters and doctorate degrees? Gonzalo Were still receiving complaints on how we can improve reqts but we are working on it. Such as what can we substitute for a lack of ITR etc. itd be good if students perceptions of the process are brought up the offices (UCSFA) Regarding masters degrees, it can still be raised but the resources that we would use for that could be used on an undergrad.

Q Is there a more efficient/official way to disseminate info/announcements? Gonzalo we can post it on the CRS, or through OUR. Also, we have official memos.

Q On behalf of the Philippine Collegian, we want to clarify how we do our release of analysis. Kule substantiates our data. Agree? Articles released have *as of*. Meaning its not the entire data. Theres a qualification of data regarding the time it was released. Ang Collegian ay hindi STFAP monitor, Im challenging USC to also raise these concerns. USC Chair Heart Dino This is not a rebuttal forum, this is an stfap forum. USC will make a survey with OSSS to see the data. It will span for a year to really see the data. Again, let us ask procedural questions only. Gonzalo for those who will request for data from OSSS, allow us to explain the context of the data.

Q Is the consideration of income 1M+ or below before or minus the taxes?

Gonzalo Look at it by process. 1st phase, we look at the income. 2nd phase, possible factors that limit your capacity to pay. Run by a technical-working group, they will assign a tentative bracket. On the appeals, the human side of the application, the student will be interviewed to know if he needs more subsidy.

Q Part of bracketing is high school, what if I came from an exclusive high school but some family event lowered our income, is that considered? Gonzalo Considered but only on the appeal part.

Q Are there scholarships for masters? Gonzalo Yes but not as many as undergrad.

Q Ano ang statistical basis for determining brackets Gonzalo 4 socio-economic indicators and they have coefficients considered for the model.

Q For student on AWOL, are they considered on the 2nd sem? Gonzalo Yes, they are still considered. Just go to the office and appeal. Medyo matagal nga lang pero inaaccommodate.

Q Paano kung ang mga family na maraming utang kahit medyo malaki ang income? Gonzalo Other indicators such as liabilities are considered in step 2 or 3. The bracketing has 4 steps and it does not end upon asking your income, other socio-economic indicators are considered. STFAP are tied with other programs such as loans to augment or support the lack from STFAP system.

Q Wala po bang way para mapabilis ang steps sa appeal kasi few times a year lang nagmeet ang UCSFA. Gonzalo - Every now and then, UCSFA have resolutions to make the process faster.