Taguig ups scholarship fund to P400M

CAYETANO

The local government of Taguig City has increased its scholarship fund to an unprecedented P400 million and doubled the value of its education vouchers which student beneficiaries can use to pay tuition in any school of their choice, according to City Hall.

Mayor Lani Cayetano on Friday urged the city’s new high school graduates to apply for the scholarship program, whose budget since 2011 had been increasing by P100 million each year, with last year’s purse at P300 million.

The program provides financial aid, ranging from P10,000 to P100,000 per person, to Taguig residents pursuing tertiary or higher education. Under Cayetano, it has covered over 24,000 scholars since 2010.

The program has seven categories: basic scholarship or financial assistance; full scholarships; state university or college (SUCs) and local university and college (LUC) scholarships; premier or specialized school scholarships; leaders and educators advancement and development (LEAD) scholarships; assistance program for bar and board reviews, and priority courses and skills training.

This year, three of the categories have been upgraded: Students who are granted basic or LUC scholarship will get P10,000 (up from P5,000), while those granted SUC scholarship will get P15,000 (from P10,000).

“We have always considered our people, especially our youth, to be the city’s greatest asset. This year, we have decided to invest more in them by increasing the amount of the scholarship fund as well as the amount of financial aid that we will extend to each Lani scholar,” Cayetano said.

Lani stands for Learning Assistance for Neighbors in Need.

All 7,840 public high school graduates in Taguig this year will also receive education vouchers whose worth has been raised to P10,000 (from P5,000 last year). The vouchers can only be used to pay tuition in the school of their choice.

“It means that any Taguigeño with a high school diploma can choose to enroll in a wider selection of colleges and universities because the city gives the student P10,000 to do so. If that is not enough, then the scholar can apply for a higher scholarship that can pay for the entire amount,” the mayor explained. Jaymee T. Gamil