THE City Government has accepted some 1,494 scholars out of the 2,406 applicants for this year's expanded scholarship program of Cagayan de Oro.

Of the 1,494, 150 of them fall under the “income-based” category while the other 1,306 fall under the “performance-based” category.

Income-based scholars are the ones who are identified as within the poverty line and only need to maintain a 75 percent grade, while the performance-based scholars need to maintain 85 percent grade to keep their scholarship program.

The city's education focal person Maria Dulce Potenciano said the scholars are chosen carefully through a difficult screening process, as they have to background check the applicants to see if they fall under the categories set.

"This year we have the highest number of city scholars because aside from the 1,306 new set of scholars, we still have existing 188 scholars," she said.

The city's expanded scholarship program includes low income families, only earning P5,000 or less per month.

The City Council said this new type of scholarship program is the first of its kind in the country as it only requires 75 percent grade requirement.

The city has allocated P60 million for the scholarship program.