City examines anemic CCMC nursing enrolment

A MOVE to allow the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) College of Nursing to accept students from neighboring towns and cities is being pushed in the Cebu City Council.

Councilor Roberto Cabarrubias has filed a resolution that, if approved, will let non-residents of Cebu City enroll in the CCMC to make the college more sustainable.

The council, last Dec. 14, 2005, passed Resolution 05-1674, which allows only city residents to enroll in the said school.

But with this set-up, the councilor pointed out, the school’s enrollees continued to decrease in recent years and the school’s income has dropped.

Based on the school’s records, there were 467 enrollees in CCMC’s College of Nursing in 2005. It decreased to 434 in 2006, 418 in 2007, 415 in 2008, 351 in 2009, 307 in 2010, 243 in 2011 and 191 in 2012.

The school generated P5.9 million in 2005. Its income increased to P7.9 million in 2006, P9.9 million in 2007, P10.7 million in 2008, and P12.2 million in 2009, after the City Government implemented a gradual increase of the school’s tuition to first year students.

However, the school’s earnings started to decrease by 2010. That year, they only earned P10.7 million, followed by P9.3 million in 2011 and P7.2 million in 2012.

Other schools, too

Cabarrubias said that Resolution 05-1674 has to be amended so the City’s College of Nursing will not cease to exist.

Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young said, though, that the decrease in the number of nursing students is also being experienced by other colleges and universities.

Young said this is because the Commission on Higher Education has issued a memorandum discouraging students to enroll in nursing, because more graduates of this course still have no jobs.

But Young, who heads the council’s committee on education, said he supports the passage of Cabarrubias’s resolution.

Councilor Jose Daluz III suggested coming up with a guideline to establish who among non-residents will qualify to enroll in the City’s College of Nursing.

Voter’s ID?

Vicenta Jaluague, dean of the school, submitted some proposed guidelines yesterday.

She said non-residents of the city may be allowed to take an entrance exam if they can present a voter’s ID.

The applicant should also submit a notarized affidavit from their relative or guardian, stating their relationship to the applicant and that they are residents of the city and willing to attend school meetings.

Two months before the start of classes, Jaluague proposed, if the enrollment quota for the school is below 100, qualified non-residents of the city may be taken in.

However, Daluz and Councilor Edgardo Labella found the proposed guidelines vague.

Study it: Rama

They said they don’t understand why a voter’s ID is required. They added that “relative” should be defined, whether by affinity or consanguinity.

“A guideline should be clear so that it will be free from any misinterpretation,” said Labella.

Both then suggested to Cabarrubias to defer the approval of his resolution and revise the proposed guidelines.

Sought for comment on the resolution, Mayor Michael Rama said the matter is something that needs to be studied well.

“It can be good or bad, so it will have to be reviewed properly,” he said.