Isabela State University to launch tuition-free program

This one is for the books.

While many tertiary institutions want to increase tuition, the Isabela State University (ISU) will start offering tuition-free courses starting next year.

The Board of Regents of ISU, the biggest state university in Cagayan Valley, has approved a proposal to pilot the offering of six agriculture courses starting next school year.

The proposal was authored by Dr. Robinson Perez, dean of the College of Agriculture at the main campus in Echague town, and approved by Dr. Romeo Quiland, ISU president.

With the free-tuition policy of ISU, enrollees in six courses will enjoy full tuition subsidy and other benefits, if they meet the requirements.

The courses are Bachelor of Science in Agriculture (BSA), BS in Animal Husbandry (BSAH), BS in Agricultural Engineering (BSAEng), BS in Agribusiness (BSAB), BS in Forestry (BSF) and Diploma in Agricultural Technology leading to Bachelor in Agricultural Technology (DAT-BAT).

The program has been envisioned to address the setbacks experienced by agricultural education in the Cagayan Valley, including a downtrend in enrollment in agricultural courses by an average of 15 percent for the past few years in ISU alone, the dwindling number of professionals in agricultural extension service, and untapped agriculture-based enterprises.

"While the general aim of the free tuition scheme is to extend financial assistance and other privileges to those who will enroll in the (six) development courses, this program also aims to improve instruction in development courses for quality education," said ISU in a report by Monalinda Cadiz.

The program also stipulates other privileges, including lodging for juniors and seniors who would establish projects inside the campus for their thesis.

Project financing will also be offered through the Campus Business Affairs Office (CBAO) in each campus where students are enrolled.

ISU has six campuses — the Echague main campus (where BSA, BSAEng, BSAB, and BSF are offered), Roxas campus (BS Fisheries), Cabagan campus (BSA, BSAB, DAT-BAT, BSF), San Mariano (DAT-BAT, BSF), Cauayan (DAT-BAT), and Jones (BSA).

Interested students are required to submit a project proposal showing a return-on-investment (ROI) of at least 15 percent or something that is within the industry’s acceptable range.

The project’s entire profit goes to the student after he has fully paid the principal loan and the interests to the CBAO.

Students who want to develop their own agribusiness after graduation could also be linked to financing institutions for acquiring initial capitalization.

In launching the free-tuition program, ISU noted that agriculture courses are looked down upon as degrees to be pursued by students with "minor talents and ambitions."

"Yet in tropical Philippines, agriculture is still the main industry which, sadly, has not reached its full potential from the vast opportunities it has to offer," stressed Cadiz, who is also Regional Applied Communication Officer (RACO) of the Cagayan Valley Agriculture and Resources Research and Development (CVARRD) consortium.

"The future in agriculture has never been brighter than this time when a wide array of production and post-production technologies and information on farmers’ real experiences, agri-machinery and facilities, and financial assistance, among other things, have been generated and are offered to facilitate agricultural development in the country," she said.

"Some academic institutions, especially state colleges and universities, are also boosting the image of agriculture courses to encourage more agriculture degree takers and eventually helping build a stronger industry for the country," she added.