SPECIAL REPORT – GRADUATION WOES: ‘No starch, no march’? Students face final hurdle in school — escalating graduation fees

By Vannah Ang
We have gotten used to these academic jargons—“No ID, No entry”, “No uniform, no entry”, and the now controversial “No permit, no exam.”
Just when you think that’s just about it, think again.
How about this–“No starch, no march”? That is a more poetic way of saying “no money, no diploma.”
There’s simply no end to student’s woes. Up to the very last—graduation time—the road is still uphill.
The next battle for graduating students is just that, graduation and all the quirks that go with it. Besides the turmoil of dealing with heaps of confusing paperwork, the most bothersome graduation requirement is its cost. Sometimes, it just makes one wonder if graduation is a reward from all the hard work or just another added expense to the already high cost of education.
Edge Davao talked to some of the graduating students of Batch 2013 and got their views on graduation fees.
Andrea Mari F. Candari, 20, of the Ateneo de Davao University (AB-Political Science), who dreams to be a lawyer engages herself into volunteer work for the marginalized society. After graduation she hopes to have the chance to study at the Ateneo de Manila University to pursue her law studies.
Candari says, “Basically the implementation of Graduation fees is a social, educational issue considering that every person has a right to education and they should be well informed about these processes. In the implementation of graduation fees, it is okay for some private educational institutions to have these fees because these students are coming from families who have adequate income and has the capacity to pay for it, but in the context of public schools where almost all of the students come from low income families, graduation fees must be waived which means that it must not be compulsory for the students because of their financial incapacity. This upholds the principle of equality because there will be an equal chance for every student to perform their right to education.”
Candari says at Ateneo, graduation fees are already inclusive of tuition but are substantially broken down in financial reports for transparency purposes.
“I have never felt any hassle on this issue because our school has made it accessible and convenient for us to be able to pay our dues before applying for graduation. This has already been established even before we enrolled in the Ateneo.”
Shiriel Elise Magalong, graduating student of the Philippine Women’s College (Bachelors Degree in Fine Arts and Design majoring in Fashion Design) has finished two vocational courses in digital arts and will be earning her baccalaureate degree this April.
“I believed that if I persevere and keep my faith, I will be able to attain what I aim for and finishing college with the degree that I truly love, is a testimony of that. It wasn’t easy of course, but it wasn’t impossible as well. I have always dreamed of being a professional digital illustrator both in fashion and cartoon illustrations,” Magalong said.
On the issue of ‘no permit, no exam’, Magalong said “it has its negatives and positives. Negative because not every college student have parents who can provide. Most are actually having a hard time paying tuition fees and now that their child is finally graduating, more fees come which becomes hard for them to provide. To the point that some even go to the extent of getting a loan.”
On the other hand, Magalong said it is positive because “just like in a painting, sometimes, the finishing is more expensive than the overall paint that was used to paint the whole picture. Meaning, there are graduation fees to give the students the best that they could have before they leave the school- best picture, best toga, best yearbook, and more, as a reward to the years of hard work of the student.”
Magalong, however, considers graduation fees are rather quite a hassle because she said there were just so many fees. “I was expecting that fees would be in one time payment, but it was separated. It was quite the hassle too because I was also trying to pass all my requirements for my subjects at the best that I could, which also means spending money for it, and at the same time thinking of all the graduation fees that I should pay. It was rather quite stressful.”
These days, there is more to graduation than just the diploma which only added up to the long litany of worries for students and parents.