For some reason I tend to follow U.S. political news almost as much as our own politics (which isn’t saying much; I’m almost never up to date).

One thing I find interesting is that there’s always a big fuss about student loans. Over here, the fuss is usually about tuition fee hikes (high; every year) and scholarship usually means dole-outs from politicians.

So I was really surprised to learn that CHED has a Study Now Pay Later program. And since the two most common investing goals are retirement and college education, I thought it would be a good idea to write about scholarships.

CHED’s Study Now Pay Later Program

http://www.ched.gov.ph/index.php/home/undergraduate-students/scholarships-grants-support-undergraduate-students/stufaps/list-of-available-student-financial-assistance-programs-stufaps/

http://www.ched.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Study-Now-Pay-Later-Plan-Program-SNPLP.pdf

• Basically, they’ll give you around 7,500 per semester for your tuition.
• The great thing is that you are only required to start paying off the loan 2 years after you get employed. So if you graduated a while back but haven;t been able to get a job, then the “clock” hasn’t started yet.
• The loan has an interest of not more than 6% per annum. At that rate, it’s basically just the inflation rate (the “normal” one; as opposed to tuition fees which hike by 10% or more annually)

There are a few requirements though, two of which are:

• You can’t be more than 30 years old (unless you’re a senior citizen)
• Parents’ income does not exceed 300,000 (although the site says a committee can review the merits in case the income exceeds 300k)

(If interested, you can apply for it here: http://www.ched.gov.ph/index.php/home/undergraduate-students/scholarships-grants-support-undergraduate-students/stufaps/how-to-apply-stufaps/)

A lot of other companies offer scholarships too:

Metrobank Foundation
http://www.mbfoundation.org.ph/education_csp.html

Megaworld Foundation
http://www.megaworldfoundation.com/OurWork/ScholarshipProgram.aspx

SM Foundation
http://www.sm-foundation.org/education.html

Fujitsu Philippines, Inc.
http://www.fujitsu.com/ph/about/subsidiaries/fpi/contribution/college/

Aboitiz
http://careers.aboitiz.com/futuretalents/scholarship-program/

Kabataang Pilipino, Inc.
http://kpfi.memberlodge.org/page-533823?

Landbank
https://www.landbank.com/gawad-patnubay-college-scholarship-program

Those are just some examples. I’m pretty sure some of the other big companies in the Philippines have some form of scholarship program. In most cases though, the middle class is “left out”. They make too much money for a scholarship, but sometimes not enough to pay for college while still paying the usual bills.


However, most schools offer scholarship programs of some sort.

Asia Pacific College
https://www.apc.edu.ph/?q=scholarship_grants

Technological University of the Philippines
http://www.tup.edu.ph/page/admissions/scholarship

Polytechnic University of the Philippines
http://www.pup.edu.ph/studentservices/sfas/scholarship.aspx

Miriam College
https://www.mc.edu.ph/Admissions/Scholarships.aspx

Lyceum of the Philippines University
http://lpulaguna.edu.ph/admission/scholarship-and-grants/

St. Luke’s College of Medicine
http://stlukesmedcollege.edu.ph/scholarship

In pretty much all cases though, the basic criteria to retain the scholarship is similar: get good grades (at least 80%), don’t get caught doing something stupid, and be poor.

So if you’re really smart or financially challenged, you’ve got a fighting chance to get a scholarship. For the vast majority of us ordinary folks, we’re basically stuck with saving and investing for college education.

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