UMak takes in storm survivors

The University of Makati (UMak) will be taking in for free displaced students from colleges badly hit by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” in the Visayas region.

Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay Jr. made the announcement on Monday, adding that no tuition fee would be collected from the “emergency transferees.” UMak usually collects a token fee per semester of P1,000 from Makati-based students and P3,000 from those living in other areas.

“We want to help displaced college students resume their normal school activities as soon as possible to enable them to recover faster from their traumatic experience. Many of them may already be here in Metro Manila living with relatives so we would like to offer them the chance to enrol at UMak now,” Binay said in a statement.

Ideally, transferees should present a certification from an official of their respective schools but those who cannot would be enrolled on probationary status for at least one semester, until their original schools resume normal operations.

However, Edita Chan, executive vice president of UMak, clarified that the school would accept only transferees in their third or fourth year.

“We have been implementing the senior high school program under K to 12 so we have no first and second year college students to date,” Chan said.

Those who are in their first or second year will have the option to enroll in Grades 11 and 12—Jaymee T. Gamil