My brother’s dream ended after traveling for 12 hrs, borrowed money from relatives, and gutom para mag enroll sa CMU
I just want to rant and share how disappointing our experience with CMU has been.
My younger brother traveled for 12 hours to Bukidnon last week for his medical appointment and enrollment. We are not financially well-off. In fact, his budget was only enough for transportation, food, and a few days of stay. To make things harder, ako sister is currently in the hospital, so our family is rlly struggling. He left Thursday night para makaabot sya Friday morning and deretso pa medical na. We intentionally planned it this way kay wala syay mapuy-an didto so nagbayad pa mi ug ka stayhan niya, and ang enrollment kay June 8 pa. Mao to pag abot niya CMU ni deretso na sya pa medical kaso pag adto niya kay giingnan sya nga mobalik ra daw sa Monday for the required tests. Since that instruction came from the medical office, nisunod ra pod sya.
Monday na, which was also the last day of his stay and the start of enrollment. When he returned for the medical requirements, he was suddenly informed that they could not perform one of the required tests because they had run out of testing kits or supplies for the Hepatitis B and also gikasab an pa sya ngano daw sa Monday sya niadto unya iyang schedule kay Friday. After a few exchanges and reasoning kay he was advised to travel to Valencia City to have test done there. Imagine the situation. This meant additional transportation expenses that we could no longer afford. At that point, wala na gyd syay kwarta pliti nalang and pang medical so wala na sya nikaon para lang maka travel to another city. We also had no more money to send him because the funds we gave him kay ge utang ra gyd from relatives and silingan. After finally completing the medical requirements, niadto na sya sa Registrar’s Office hoping to enroll. Kaso giingnan sya nga dili maka enroll because dili original copy sa birth certificate ang dala. We tried to ask if pwede to be follow lang kay layo mi nag puyo and wala nay kwarta and it was really an honest mistake. Sadly there was no consideration given. As a result, my brother was unable to enroll. Nibyahe sya gaina pauli without being enrolled and walay kaon. Before anyone judges him for not bringing the original birth certificate, he genuinely believed it was the original copy. Nag ingon pod amo ante nga original to kay gi check man niya and I personally wasn’t able to double-check the documents kay at that time our family gi atake akong ate.
What disappoints me the most is not just the strict requirements. It’s the lack of consideration for students who travel from far provinces and come from families that are already struggling financially.
If students are instructed to return on a certain day for medical tests, there should at least be assurance that the necessary supplies are available. And while I understand that requirements are requirements, it is heartbreaking to see a student travel 12 hours, spend money he doesn’t have, complete all the medical requirements despite sa kalisod, only to be sent home without being able to enroll.
This experience didn’t just fail my brother. It failed our family. And now murag moundang sa sya ug skwela para maka part time and tabang financially.