THE Cebu City Government’s scholarship will soon be improved and expanded to help more public school students go to college.

Acting Mayor Margarita Osmeña is proposing for the City to give a second chance to scholars who dropped out due to financial problems.

“The scholarship program has been in existence for six years now. There are many cases where the scholars start but for some reason, mostly financial, they quit one year or two years after. But then the program does not include those who want to come back. Sayang ba. Sana it includes them,” she said.

The acting mayor first bared her proposal in a meeting with the City’s scholars last week.

During the meeting, the acting mayor said her husband, incoming mayor Tomas Osmeña, also attended and reiterated his plan to increase the tuition subsidy for the students as well as pay the more than P160-million it owes to the Asian College of Technology International Education Foundation (ACTIEF)

It was Tomas’ campaign promise to increase the tuition subsidy from P10,000 per semester to P50,000 and to pay ACTIEF so the scholars who graduated there can already get their transcript of records and get a job.

Asked if she will already include an appropriation for increase on subsidy once she pass a new annual budget for the City in the next few weeks, Osmeña said not yet as the City will still have to look for a source of fund for it.

Payment

On the payment to the ACTIEF, Osmeña said appropriations for it have been included in the previous year’s budget.

As for the re-entry of the dropouts to the scholarship program, Osmeña said she will propose this to the next administration, which will already be headed starting July 1 by her husband.

“Maybe he will listen. But I think he is also thinking of that,” she said.

Every year, the City sets aside a P300 million to fund the City’s scholarship program, where each of the scholars get a P10,000 subsidy per semester.

But since there are no new high school graduates this year and next year due to the implementation of the K-to-12 program, Osmeña said portion of the budget can be used to pay for the tuition of the dropouts who want to go back to school.

Investment

In the same meeting, Osmeña assured the scholars that the City will continue helping them in their college education.

“The money could not be spent better than as an investment in them and I really believe that. It’s education. There is a return of investment. It is not financial but it is their future. If each each and everyone of them gets a college degree, they will be able to have a job. They will be able to take care of themselves and their families,” she said.