I guess this is what happens if I happen to be enrolled in a 5-year course. Last March/April, more than half of my HS batchmates have already earned their undergraduate degree. Some even have a job lined up for them while others, I heard, are pursuing higher degrees. Of course, I have already reconciled with that fact even before I first enrolled in UP. Then again, I never imagined I would be in such an academic distress.

To be clean of any deficiencies without resorting to heavy and painful appeals (stupid UP red tape), I will be graduating in June 2008, at the earliest. The reason? Failure to comply with the rules for General Education subjects (i.e. my non-majors). And if I graduated later, it would probably be because of Subject Unavailability.

Damn. Of all the reasons to be delayed in UP, it has to be one of the two. Some luck.

What really threw me off course was this little information I got from a close friend’s mom. Apparently, the brother of my kabarkada will be graduating in October 2008… and he’s one batch lower. Same degree, only he will be getting in from DLSU. And don’t get me started with Mapuan would-be graduates. Some of them might earn their degree after this month.

Sure, I should never compare UP EEE with the other schools but a miserable fact has manifested in my case: UP’s education is changing due to insufficient funds from the government. Drastic changes, including RGEP and recent tuition and other fees increase has stemmed from the very same issue.

I do acknowledge the fact that there should be alternative solutions to the situation and not rely solely on the government for revenue. However, these remedies would only make people forget that a huge part of the people’s taxes should be allocated to social services. Not debt servicing and definitely not for politicians’ body guards and whores. If that was their intention in the first place, then I guess it is true. Machiavellian rule was not buried with Ferdinand Marcos.