SECOND CHANCES, SHARED DREAMS: Scholarship at UC rewrites lives

The gymnasium felt different that day.
Not louder—just fuller.

When University of Cebu opened its doors on December 15, 2025 for two new three-year diploma programs, the air inside the UC Maritime Education and Training Center (METC) carried more than the usual first-day nerves. It carried years of waiting.

Nearly a thousand enrollees gathered, but these were not the typical wide-eyed freshmen fresh from senior high. They were mothers and fathers. Former overseas workers. Factory hands. Dreamers who had paused—not because they wanted to, but because life asked them to.

They enrolled in either the Diploma in Tourism Management (DTM) or the Diploma in Hospitality Management (DHM), programs made possible through the scholarship provisions of Republic Act 10931, the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act. Under the pilot rollout of Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) in Cebu and nearby regions, education once again became reachable.

For many inside the hall, this wasn’t simply about school.
It was about dignity. Stability. A second chance to move forward.

A quiet return to unfinished dreams

Among the mostly Gen Z students sat Millennials and Gen X learners—people returning to classrooms they once had to leave behind. It felt less like orientation day and more like a reunion with versions of themselves they thought they had lost.

Grace dela Cerna, 48, was one of them.

A single mother and former domestic helper in Hong Kong for 13 years, Grace came home in 2023 to care for her daughter after an accident left the teenager with mobility challenges. Between reselling groceries and working nights as a virtual assistant, Grace chose to enroll in DHM.

“Determinado gyud ko,” she said—determined.

For her, this scholarship is not charity. It is a lifeline. A way to dream again of hotel work or cruise ships, this time with qualifications that could lead not just to employment, but leadership.

TESDA Cebu operations head Clarissa J. Geraldo shared that diploma graduates may later transition into bachelor’s degrees in Tourism or Hospitality through the Philippine Credit Transfer System, a pathway developed with the Commission on Higher Education.

Hope, this time, comes with structure.

When waiting does not mean giving up

At 29, Christein Acosta knows what it feels like to believe education is the way out—only to find the door closed by finances. Raised by a single mother and responsible for younger relatives, she finished senior high school in 2021 and then waited.

Years passed quietly until a Facebook post about UC changed her direction.

Now, she rides her motorcycle daily from Lapu-Lapu City to class, holding onto a goal she once thought she missed: working abroad, managing kitchens and people, proving that waiting did not mean surrender.

Jerome Balansag, 33, understands this urgency too. After years of contractual factory work and hotel kitchen stints despite TESDA training, he knew credentials mattered.

“With this diploma,” he said simply, “naa ko’y mapakita.”

Education, for Jerome, is leverage. Proof that ambition does not expire with age.

Choosing family, choosing now

For Brian Cabang, 35, poverty meant working early—and endlessly. Factories by day, fishing and massage work when needed. College was never an option.

Now married with a six-year-old child and a wife working abroad as a nurse, Brian enrolled for one reason: “Para sa akong anak.”

Beside him sits his sister-in-law, Lauri Ann Noval Gahi, 39, a mother of two who recently completed TESDA baking training. She saw the METC program as a rare alignment of timing and grace.

“Tagsa ra kaayo ni nga libre tanan,” she said.

Learning, she believes, does not end at motherhood.

Dreams that begin early—and late

Among the youngest scholars is Geraldine Iwayan, 18, a senior high graduate from Talisay City. With no stable financial support, her challenge came early—but so did her resolve. She dreams of working on a cruise ship, welcoming guests and cooking dishes she already practices at home.

“Dapat i-grab gyud nila,” she urged others.

Completing the group is Junilyn Yanoc Zuñiga, 35, a solo parent of two boys who learned about the program through a live UC press conference. When UC chairman Atty. Augusto W. Go spoke directly to parents whose dreams were cut short by poverty, Junilyn felt seen.

Now enrolled in DTM, her dream is simple: stability. A job that allows her to support her children “og tarong.”

Beyond the scholarship

TESDA will shoulder tuition, books, uniforms, and certification fees. Scholars also receive a monthly allowance deposited through Land Bank of the Philippines.

Still, the road ahead is not easy.

Some will work night shifts. Others will take side jobs. Hardship does not disappear—but choice returns.

And that may be the most radical thing of all.

This program does not promise instant success. What it offers instead is agency—the power to influence one’s own life again.

In classrooms that run only four hours a day, lives are being recalibrated. Poverty is being challenged not by slogans, but by skills, credentials, and renewed self-belief.

A way forward

Enrollment at UC METC remains open until December 29, with classes fully underway by January 5, 2026. Senior high graduates, ALS completers, and even college undergraduates—regardless of age—may still qualify.

Applicants need basic academic records, a PSA-issued birth certificate, and proof of good moral character.

As these scholars walk the same hallways as thousands of students, they carry something different: urgency, gratitude, the weight of family—and finally, a way forward.

Because sometimes, going on does not mean starting over.
It means picking up the dream you were forced to set down—and choosing to walk again.