City college to snub ‘outsiders’

Starting next school year, the Mandaue City College (MCC) will no longer accept enrollees who are not residents of the city.

Mayor Gabriel Luis “Luigi” Quisumbing made this pronouncement during his second State of the City Address (SOCA) Wednesday.

Quisumbing said the “unchecked expansion has led to difficulty sustaining the operations of the city college without heavy subsidy from the city.”

He said roughly half of the 2,000 MCC students are not from the city, but the city government keeps on subsidizing their tuition fees.

"Roughly 50 percent of the student population is not from Mandaue City. We have decided to cater to Mandauehanons only for the time being," Quisumbing said.

Limiting MCC enrollees to city residents, he said, aims to prioritize its growing number of students seeking an affordable higher education.

However, the mayor clarified that nonMandauehanons will still be allowed to continue their studies until they complete their degrees.

"To be fair, we will allow them to graduate but just starting next school year, we will no longer allow those who are not from Mandaue to enroll at MCC," the mayor said.

The city government spends an annual tuition fee subsidy amounting to P15 million to P20 million for over 2,000 students.

"It is irrefutable that the college has been a tremendous resource for our students, but the size of the student population makes both the relocation to a suitable facility and the quality of instruction difficult to assure," he said.

To meet and cope up with the educational demands, he said, it is fitting to cut down the expenditures and operations of the college for the time being.

The mayor added that the city government has already identified two potential campus sites for the school's expansion.

In retooling the MCC, Quisumbing said the city would soon be able to offer scholarship grants to some of the city's public secondary schools.

"This will ensure that these hardworking and deserving students will have access to higher education after graduation," he said.