beingbeaple

I underestimated the lure of UP Diliman.

Last year, as I was queuing in front of the testing center in CU, I realized a lot of people wanted to get an affordable education from a prestigious university. But it was only yesterday that I fully comprehended just HOW MANY students are half-desperate to get into UP. Last weekend, the campus was filled with vast crowds of people milling in front of testing areas, people waiting for their children or girlfriends and perhaps praying fervently that the money spent on review centers and MSA review books was worth it. It’s not the crowds that matter though.

What’s a test without the taker? Just thinking about the thousands of students worrying about their UPCAT performance amuses and worries me. It’s amusing because I can say stuff like "Don’t worry much, just watch out for the Science section" and "If it’s for you it will be yours" with conviction and sufficient reason. But I’m also worried because I know that out of the few who will be deemed ‘gifted enough’ to enter this school only a few will choose to study here.

Why? The tuition fee’s increased. I know we, the freshies ‘07, are paying more than the upperclassmen but I wasn’t able to compare the figures properly until I heard my third year socio classmate say he only paid six thou last enrollment. Like WHAT?!?!?! The lowest freshie tuition fee I know of is 17, 000+! Even I had to pay 20, 030.50 and that’s like the average rate!

And yeah, yeah, I know that compared to other schools this fee is MINUTE, but think about it: in one year, the tuition fee rises from 6K to 20K and this is supposedly state-subsidized. Screw the government for cutting their support for the academe.

…

I’ve forgotten my parents work for the government. Basically, the state still pays for my education.

On a lighter side, the two-day UPCAT fest (’cause UPD really was in festival mode last weekend) wreaked havoc in the Sunken Garden. Trash thrown EVERY WHERE and those portalets reeking like something worse than a millenium-old sewer. I wanted to walk around the acad oval last night so the girls and I went on an evening stroll. Halfway through our little escapade, one of my friends said she needed to pee and she couldn’t make it back to the dorm anymore. So we walked to Vinzon’s but then we found out the entrance to the CR was locked. We tried to seek refuge in the School of Economics Building and we actually got past the guard-less security post but then we discovered the CR was locked, too.

In desperation, someone suggested the garden. We ditched the idea almost immediately. Who would want to pee in the SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS FRONT YARD?

But my friend couldn’t take it anymore and I realized I couldn’t take it anymore, too, so we took turns ‘tinkling’, disregarding the bright lights that were illuminating the garden, which is, by the way, visible from the main road. God knows if the SE admin has hidden cameras stuck on the tree we peed on. But as my other friend said, "They can’t take it from you anyway."

So even though the tuition’s increased, UP is still the land of the free.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 5th, 2007 at 9:26 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.