College Costs In Philippines

[Thomas]

My wife recently graduated with a BS from Saint Josephs College in Maasin, Leyte. Sounds like the cost was about $1000/semester but with several extra expenses as well, and of course books. She worked for 5 years to put herself threw.

 

Her brother is about to graduate from high school and of course the family cannot afford to send him to college. I know she would love to help him but understands that we cannot - at least not until she is working a bit. But before I say anything I wanted to get a real idea about tuition costs.

 

I am not talking about one of the expensive Manila top tiered schools, so let's not worry about those. And IF I considered helping him it would probably not be to foot the entire bill.

 

So before I get in too deep and even hint to my wife that we can help, I wanted to get a notion of costs.

Do they aim at becoming OFW?

I know several with exams e g computers, who didn't got any work in Phils, so now they are nannies and such abroad. Not much use of their exam knowledge there...

If not having any useful contact to get where NEED such higher education, the higher education will probably be wasted if staying in Phils. Hundreds of thousands WITH exams don't get work suiting their education...

Exception - Language education suiting Call Centers. Such Phils are short of.

 

IF they have some skill useful for business (including production skill) then I would concider put the money on assisting them starting a business instead.

[Steve GCC]

Do they aim at becoming OFW? I know several with exams e g computers, who didn't got any work in Phils, so now they are nannies and such abroad. Not much use of their exam knowledge there...

 

Hit nail on the head I think Thomas.  We employ many here in middle east as admin for example with Bachelors and even Masters degrees, send 75% of cash home to family sitting on backside doing nothing in many cases........

[davewe]

 

My wife recently graduated with a BS from Saint Josephs College in Maasin, Leyte. Sounds like the cost was about $1000/semester but with several extra expenses as well, and of course books. She worked for 5 years to put herself threw.

 

Her brother is about to graduate from high school and of course the family cannot afford to send him to college. I know she would love to help him but understands that we cannot - at least not until she is working a bit. But before I say anything I wanted to get a real idea about tuition costs.

 

I am not talking about one of the expensive Manila top tiered schools, so let's not worry about those. And IF I considered helping him it would probably not be to foot the entire bill.

 

So before I get in too deep and even hint to my wife that we can help, I wanted to get a notion of costs.

Do they aim at becoming OFW?

I know several with exams e g computers, who didn't got any work in Phils, so now they are nannies and such abroad. Not much use of their exam knowledge there...

If not having any useful contact to get where NEED such higher education, the higher education will probably be wasted if staying in Phils. Hundreds of thousands WITH exams don't get work suiting their education...

Exception - Language education suiting Call Centers. Such Phils are short of.

 

IF they have some skill useful for business (including production skill) then I would concider put the money on assisting them starting a business instead.

 

This is a Western view that I assume most people ascribe to but I don't. It's certainly true if a person views the prime value of education as getting a job and making the most money. My wife got a BS degree in Business Admin and before I came along intended to use it in a Call Center. I still believe though that education is valuable beyond the monetary payoff. Even in the US, a Bachelors degree in liberal arts rarely equates to making much money.

 

But in the case of her brother, his goal at this point (and a 17 year old certainly might change his mind a time or two) is to enter the military - for which advanced education is valuable I am told.

[Thomas]

 

 

My wife recently graduated with a BS from Saint Josephs College in Maasin, Leyte. Sounds like the cost was about $1000/semester but with several extra expenses as well, and of course books. She worked for 5 years to put herself threw.

 

Her brother is about to graduate from high school and of course the family cannot afford to send him to college. I know she would love to help him but understands that we cannot - at least not until she is working a bit. But before I say anything I wanted to get a real idea about tuition costs.

 

I am not talking about one of the expensive Manila top tiered schools, so let's not worry about those. And IF I considered helping him it would probably not be to foot the entire bill.

 

So before I get in too deep and even hint to my wife that we can help, I wanted to get a notion of costs.

Do they aim at becoming OFW?

I know several with exams e g computers, who didn't got any work in Phils, so now they are nannies and such abroad. Not much use of their exam knowledge there...

If not having any useful contact to get where NEED such higher education, the higher education will probably be wasted if staying in Phils. Hundreds of thousands WITH exams don't get work suiting their education...

Exception - Language education suiting Call Centers. Such Phils are short of.

 

IF they have some skill useful for business (including production skill) then I would concider put the money on assisting them starting a business instead.

 

This is a Western view that I assume most people ascribe to but I don't. It's certainly true if a person views the prime value of education as getting a job and making the most money. My wife got a BS degree in Business Admin and before I came along intended to use it in a Call Center. I still believe though that education is valuable beyond the monetary payoff. Even in the US, a Bachelors degree in liberal arts rarely equates to making much money.

 

But in the case of her brother, his goal at this point (and a 17 year old certainly might change his mind a time or two) is to enter the military - for which advanced education is valuable I am told.

In my point of view it's NOT making the MOST money, but making SOME money by it,

because why spending money on geting EXAM DOCUMENTS otherwice??

Exam and knowledge ISN'T the same, although many believe so, and the difference between exams and cleverness are even much biger in many cases . I have seen many stupid people WITH exams and many clever people WITHOUT any higher education...   :)

E g one close to Master exam in Business economy almost could't count percent!!!

while one with low education only knewing percent = 1/100 could figuere out the corect answer (roughly) even for more complicated interest percent situations...

(Here is the hardest test:  ROUGHLY how many interest percent per year is it if geting a 5-6 loan to be paid back in 120 days, paying a part every day?

"Roughly" is corect enough so they perfect formula isn't needed to get a good enough answer.

"5-6" if someone don't know is a very common loan type in Phils. =Loaning 5, paying back 6 totaly.

Do everyone know the answer*?    :)

 

(Myself I have studied A LOT, BUT at College I skiped one subject direct, because they hadn't added the best method, although it was "invented" 17 years earlier and I knew the better method allready...   And the rest I skiped after my first semester, because they teached to slow   :)    So I found most of it wasting time, because I could learning much faster by self studies. A few times I found it interesting to get grades, so I made some tests, without having any tutoring at all just checking a bit in the books. Much of what they teached was obvious, could be found just by some logic thinking, so some chapters I almost only read the headlines, but got grades average or higher anyway. Only average in some subjects, because I skiped some parts only used in big companies where I don't want to work anyway    :)

 

 

 

*60 % is much WRONG. PM me if you wonder but don't find the corect answer after proper thinking. I don't write it here direct so no one can see the corect answer by misstake before thinking    :)

[SubicSteve]

Instead of figuring out what the tuition costs, you might look at what the degree is worth.  Most of them are worthless.  Only the top students(wealthy and connected) from the top universities will get decent job offers.  The rest will be working at the mall or they will be unemployed.  Just another sad statistic.

[jpbago]

Instead of figuring out what the tuition costs, you might look at what the degree is worth.  Most of them are worthless.  Only the top students(wealthy and connected) from the top universities will get decent job offers.  The rest will be working at the mall or they will be unemployed.  Just another sad statistic.

 

Connected is the key word here. The locals call it backers. With a good backer(s), one will pass every exam and get a job related to the course even though they failed all the way thru. A grad cum laude committed suicide here because he could not get a job and his failure classmates all got jobs.

[davewe]

Instead of figuring out what the tuition costs, you might look at what the degree is worth.  Most of them are worthless.  Only the top students(wealthy and connected) from the top universities will get decent job offers.  The rest will be working at the mall or they will be unemployed.  Just another sad statistic.

The cynic in me would say that most degrees are worthless, whether in the Philippines or the West. No guarantee that because you have a degree you can automatically get a "good" job. Hell, I can't even define what a good job is.

 

Maybe this is because of my own background. I dropped out of college once I knew that Tricky Dick wasn't gonna be able to draft me, so I have no degree. Even if I had completed my degree in English - what would that have gotten me. Not much, if money or status is the goal. But I still believe that learning (or learning how to learn) is in it self valuable.

 

Today I am a software engineer for a huge company, making far more than I am worth :) I still have no degree, yet, I consider myself to be educated. I can do what I do not because I have a diploma but because at some point I learned how to learn and I learned to enjoy learning.

 

If the standard is the ability to get a good job in the Philippines, then why go to any school, since most young people with or without a degree will not get a great job. But I just don't believe that ignorance is the best way to live life.

 

My wife is from a poor family in the provinces. She's not a genius but worked her way through college. In the Philippines her degree would have gotten her a job in a call center or something similar. In the US where she is now looking for work, her BS Degree in Business won't get her much either - at least not at first. Like most people she will start at or near the bottom. But I believe that she is far more knowledgeable than if she had never gone to college and I deeply admire the guts and perseverance she showed to get that degree. She worked like mad to get it, lived for 5 years in a small dorm-style room. It's one of the reasons I fell in love with her. If someone worked that hard under such tough circumstances to better herself, all the while with a smile on her face and a positive word for her spoiled bf - then that was a girl I'd better marry.

 

My own son is a high school senior about to enter college. I am proud of him too, but not in the same way. Like most spoiled Americans he doesn't think he should have to do much to get through college and expects a good, high paying job when he finishes. Maybe he will get one and if so hopefully it will make him happy. But I doubt it will ever give him the happiness or sense of accomplishment that my wife has.

 

So if I can afford it and everything falls into place, someday we may help a brother or sister go to college. Thanks to everyone for their views - very enlightening.

Edited January 14, 2014 by davewe

[brock]

Having common sense is worth much more than any degree...

[jpbago]

DHs/caregivers get a job overseas easier if they have a degree than those that don't, especially if is in teaching or nursing.

[paulus]

Well in my provincial city, if you don't have two years study in college in any course, you cannot get a job even as sales lady. So I reckon the kids do whatever course they can cope with, achieve at least two years and apply for jobs where they don't get their hands dirty. From the employer's perspective, the course does not matter, any course will do. .And from personal experience, I can attest that even after two years, the bobos are still there, with tuition fees supported by local congressman. I wonder about the future of this nation if these kids ever achieve adulthood, but take heart when I meet the real Pilipino when they come down from the mountain and off the remote islands. But I digress..............

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