“Kaya naman gusto kong maging instrumento para maitaas ang pisikal, mental, emosyonal, sosyal, at spirituwal na estado ng mga kapwa ko Pilipino (That is why I wanted to serve as an instrument to uplift the physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual state of my fellow countrymen—Filipinos), I hope that you feel the same way,” said Andyleen Feje, Information Officer of Pantawid during her testimonial in the FGD for the Expanded Students Grant-in-aid Program for Poverty Alleviation (ESGP-PA) grantees held at Aurora State College of Technology (ASCOT) last March 4, 2016.

ESGP-PA is a program instituted by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), in partnership with the Departments of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Labor and Employment (DOLE), Budget and Management (DBM), and Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges (PASUC). It provides financial assistance to poor but deserving students belonging to indigent household under the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR). A student-grantee is entitled to receive a maximum of PhP60,000 per academic year, or PhP30,000 per semester which includes the budget for: tuition, other school fees (based on State Universities and Colleges [SUC] and academic and extracurricular expenses; textbook and other learning materials; and, stipend (to include food, lodging, clothing, transportation, health/medical needs, basic school supplies and other related costs).

“Dahil sa programang ito ay makakatuntong na ako sa college na may kasiguraduhang makakatapos (Because of this program, I can have a degree in college with the assurance that I will finish),” said Roy Balbina, 17, a person with disability (PWD), taking up Bachelor of Science in Information Technology (BSIT) under the assistance of ESGP-PA.
There are a total of 111 student-grantee in ASCOT as of March 2016.

“I can say that this program is indeed exceptional, for there are only few programs that really monitor the development of the youth to that extent. I feel blessed that I am given a chance to be part of this program. I can now solely focus on my studies,” testified Xhyrlyx L. Velayo, 18, BS Education in Secondary Education major in English, a student-grantee. ### (Andyleen C. Feje)