By Jelanie Rose T. Elvinia
A SILLIMAN UNIVERSITY foreign student wondered why her foreign services fee increased almost double this year, and later knew that this was due to the increase of operating costs for her application, enrollment and more.
Yun Ji Yeon, a Korean national and a senior student from the College of Mass Communication had been paying P3, 000 every semester for foreign services fee. For this semester, she paid P5, 000. And this big increase made her wonder.
“If there’s a change for foreign students (services), they should tell us because we are also students here in Silliman. And we’re the ones paying for that. It’s from my parents and it’s (money) not free. They work for that,” Yun said.
With eagerness to know the reason behind the increase, Yun went to the office of Foreign Services Section located at the Oriental Hall and asked. The office is new this school year. It is opened since the government is requiring universities to have one. In this way, foreign students around the country are well served.
At that moment, all of Yun’s concerns were given an answer. SU adviser to the international students, Moses Joshua Atega, said that the increase also covers for the salary to be paid to the employees of the new office. He added that it would also cover expenses to some operations such as during their (foreign students) enrollment and arrival in the country.
In the other hand, Atega said that the university chose him to be in such position because he’s a stress – free person.
“When you love your job, when you’re just there for service, you’re happy to work, it’s actually stress-free. Christian faith will always tell you that when you are given a new job, it is to prepare you for a higher bigger challenge,” he said.
