By Jan Andrei Y. Elizalde
Kapunungan sa mga Mass Communicators
Working students are a common and evidently increasing sector of the Philippine youth, but one that remains under-supported by the education system.
With the rise of online careers that can be developed from home, one notable example being virtual assistants, students are drawn towards balancing their studies with work. Simultaneously, these opportunities make the funding and ultimate completion of their degrees more feasible—a deed many take but only few achieve due to schools failing to execute programs that cater to these challenges. Such is the case of Silliman University.
In Silliman, there is a scholarship program that affords its working students aid for their studies and time for their work. While commendable, this program is contingent on the student agreeing to map their studies in a six-year curriculum instead of the regular four. And in today’s reality where job rates for fresh graduates are declining and the idea of financial security becomes more foreign, working students cannot compromise two more years and the inevitable delay of receiving a degree.
As a working student who I, myself, had his own personal setbacks and delayed his graduation because of shifting (ergo my need to retain a regular academic pacing), effective programs that support working students remain a far-reach dream for us Sillimanians. However, this is a dream that’s especially non-negotiable because we cannot simply compromise one over another. It can never be a case of choosing “work over studies” or “studies over work” because these two priorities simply co-exist for the same goal: a degree-supported career.
Not all universities and colleges, however, fail to recognize the value in supporting working students.
For instance, Mapua University introduced its “Step Up Sa Pangarap” Program last 2024 which provided online degrees and certificate programs, and partnerships with business process outsourcing companies (such as Concentrix) for both educational and vocational support. Thus, efforts in executing programs for such a purpose is nowhere near impossibly but rather only a matter of an academic institution’s willingness.
As Silliman faces its own increase of working students, I hope that the administration aims to improve its academic support programs for working students and recognize the need in fostering a more inclusive academe. One that, too, parallels the efforts of our neighboring institutions.
