UP alumni give back through scholarships

The University of the Philippines on Friday forged a scholarship agreement with the Upsilon Sigma Phi-Sigma Delta Phi for needy but deserving UP students.

The deal calls for the establishment of the Upsilon Sigma Phi-Sigma Delta Phi ’69 Foundation Inc. Scholarship Program, which will provide an initial three scholarships each year.

UP president Alfredo Pascual signed the agreement with the chairman of the foundation, Wilfredo Fernandez.

The scholarship program will cover tuition, monthly stipend and an allowance for resource materials of three deserving students for an entire school year.

“This scholarship grant is through the generosity of our alumni and friends. We hope our other alumni can also help us through scholarships or opportunities for faculty,” said Pascual in an interview.

A student’s total expenses at the state-run university could run to P25,000 per semester if not subsidized.

The entire UP system has an estimated population of 54,000 students, with the main campus, Diliman, having more than 24,000 students.

Under the memorandum of agreement, UP will select the scholars while the Upsilon foundation will remit the funds for the expenses of the scholars.

“The scholarship grant is our modest contribution to the education of promising but underprivileged young people,” Fernandez said. “But the three scholars are only an initial figure. We will be increasing the number of scholars as we get more funds.”

The Upsilon ’69 Foundation has been funding the education of needy students informally but this time the scholarship program has been institutionalized.

“We are well aware of the financial constraints of UP at present. We share the view of president Pascual that the government financial support for UP should not be seen as an expense, but as an investment in human resource development that will yield enormous dividends for the nation as a whole,” Fernandez said.