Rector restores promissory note

AMID COMPLAINTS from parents and negative comments in social networking sites, the UST administration has withdrawn a ban on promissory notes, allowing some students to enroll for the second semester despite unpaid accounts.

The announcement was made by the Central Student Council (CSC), following a meeting with the Rector last Nov. 22.

The University accepted late enrollees but only for a span of four days, and also accepted students bearing promissory notes with prior approval of the Office of the Secretary General under a “case-to-case basis.”

Students with promissory notes were required to state the reason for non-payment and what they could promise to or bargain with the University to assure that the accounts would be settled.

The Accounting Office declined to disclose the exact number of students admitted after the ban was lifted. The Office of the Vice-Rector for Finance first announced the ban on promissory notes in a memorandum last Oct 7.

“Many would be considered, but there’s no guarantee that all of them (students enrolling using promissory notes) would still be allowed to enroll,” CSC President Lorraine Taguiam said in a telephone interview last Nov. 23.

This came amid the seasonal drop in enrollment—the University student population was cut by nearly a tenth this semester.

The first semester’s total population was 45,445. This slid to 41,250 in the second semester, equivalent to a decline of 9.23 percent or 4,195 students.

The Faculty of Engineering recorded the biggest decrease in enrollees. From last semester’s 7,521, only 7,279 were readmitted, or a difference of 242. In Accountancy, 203 did not enroll, followed by Tourism and Hospitality Management at 95, Arts and Letters at 80 students, Architecture at 63, and Science at 60.

The Varsitarian sought treasury and audit officials for comment, but they have yet to respond.

Victor Villanueva, a Civil Law student and convenor of the students’ group Thomasians for Education Alliance, said in an interview: “It is highly absurd for the University to expect students, especially those who have pending financial obligations amounting to tens of thousands of pesos, to immediately come up with such exorbitant amounts in a span of few days.” 

Taguiam said the CSC was told by the Rector himself on the same meeting that UST had already reached its target number of enrollees for the second semester. Still, some students were given the chance to enroll.

But for students with a “big balance in the fees,” the decision depended on the Treasurer’s Office, Taguiam said.

Margie de los Santos, a mother of graduating Information Technology (IT) and Chemical Engineering students, said the University administration did not allow her children to enroll because of their outstanding balance.

“`Yung anak kong IT, P75,600 `yung balance niya. `Yung Chemical [Engineering] naman, P80,000 `yung balance niya. Last semester na nila ngayon pero hindi sila pinag-enroll kasi hindi kayang bayaran `yung P155,000,” De los Santos said in an interview last Nov. 21, the last day of enrollment.

Letters to the Rector’s office and the Secretary General did not solve the problem, she said. De los Santos said she also wrote a letter to the treasurer, Fr. Manuel Roux, O.P., but did not get a reply.

“Sana agad nilang nilabas `yung memo, para hindi kami mabigla. Hindi naman ako milyonaryo para agad mabayaran `yung utang ng mga anak ko,” she said.

An officer at the Accounting Office, who asked not to be named, said he was disappointed with the turn of events.

“Sana talaga may proper information dissemination. Nagkukumahog na `yung mga parents kasi binibigla silang pagbayarin,” he said. “Nasaan na `yung 2011 vision ng UST na ‘To build the country, the nation, and the Church’? Ngayon palang, hindi na nila maintindihan `yung sitwasyon ng mga parents.”

UST should understand the plight of the students, the accounting officer said. “Most of the students here are from middle-class families. Hindi naman tayo elitists,” he said.

He added that it’s not true UST was losing 200 million pesos because of promissory notes.

“Imposibleng malugi ang UST. Ang mahal [ng tuition] at andaming estudyante ng UST,” he said. Reden D. Madrid