UCA activates platform for sponsoring low income students, after suspension of budget appropriation
La Prensa, October 5, 2022
After the reduction of the budget appropriation from the 6 percent mandated by the constitution, the UCA is looking for options so that talented university students who cannot pay for their studies can finish their majors.
In the midst of the crisis caused by the suspension of the budget appropriation by which students who cannot pay the tuition could cover that cost, the Central American University (UCA) activated a digital platform to bring talented low-income students with high academic grades in contact with possible sponsors of their studies.
The platform “Make Dreams Come True, and Contribute to a Better Future” is located on the website of this house of studies and is described as a “tool so that low income students with great academic potential who are pursuing the dream of graduating in this alma mater can have contact with sponsors who might bring them to their goal.”
The tool explains that all the scholarship recipients passed through a selection process based on academic, social and economic criteria. To assure the potential of the beneficiaries of the scholarships, the UCA uses different tools to evaluate their academic, sports and cultural accomplishments. In addition, they verify that the family does not have the economic capacity to pay tuition. Year after year they need to maintain good conduct and academic excellence to maintain the scholarship benefits.
Through this platform the UCA intends to keep their traditional system of scholarships alive. For decades it was financed with the 6 percent budget appropriation from the General Budget of the Republic, which by constitutional mandate was annually shared among the universities.
But since the social uprising of 2018 this appropriation began to be reduced, until it practically disappeared. The UCA attributes this withdrawal to a “punishment” of the Ortega-Murillo regime, because of their critical position about the institutional deterioration of the country.
This is how to sponsor a university student
The tool is very easy to use. Those interested in helping students finish their studies should go into the section of sponsoring students. There they choose a major and the system will assign them a student from a waiting list. The amount that one wants to contribute is chosen and the form of payment which can be on-line with a credit or debit card. One can also request in the system a payment order to execute through the telepayment system with a teller in a bank in the university.
“Evidence of family income is requested, receipts for basic services, a format for economic assessment is filled out, evidence of medical history of family members. Even visits are made to the homes of the scholarship candidates. In this way it is determined whether the candidate really lacks the necessary resources to cover their university studies,” indicates the platform.
The digital tool also states that each semester the students take an average of six courses, whose costs vary depending on the school. In the School of Science, Technology and the Environment the payment per course is $110 and the program of study of the majors includes on average 60 subjects. Therefore, the students of Industrial, Civil, Environmental Engineering and Information Systems and Architecture need an average investment of $6,600 in tuition during their five years of education.
In the Schools of Economic and Business Sciences and the School of Humanities they pay $100 per course. The majors that these schools offer include an average of 48 subjects. This means that the students for licentiates in Business Administration, Communications, Public Accounting, Law, Graphic Design, Applied Economics, Teaching English as a Second Language, Finance, Marketing and Psychology must invest some $4,800 in tuition for their four years of study.
Regime punishes it for its critical position
The University also stands out for its support to the victims of the governmental repression since 2018, that is why the UCA is facing other punishments in addition to the reduction of the budget appropriation. Some time ago entrance to the country was denied to the former President, Fr. José Idiáquez, who left the country to receive medical treatment. Likewise, a few days ago the same thing happened to the Vice President Jorge Huete. In addition, the UCA was excluded from the National University Council (CNU) where it represented private universities of the country.
“The resources of the university are limited and the number of students who enjoy this benefit is high. This platform intends to provide these students the opportunity to connect with altruistic people who might support them to achieve the dream of finishing their university studies,” says the university.
And it adds “the university is not receiving donations nor creating a scholarship fund. It is only providing a platform so that part of the public who want to be in solidarity with our students can contribute to them and commit to a better future for our country.”