SCHOLARSHIPS MATTER

My kid used to have a college plan. Not anymore. When management relocated me to an area in the Visayas region, I decided to resign and just concentrate on raising my then 3 year old daughter. I did not regret that decision because I believed that my family should always come first.

Alas the bills started to arrive. My husband’s salary would cover most of them, but some, like monthly payments for the college plan had to be stopped. After several family meetings, my husband and I decided to discontinue it. It wasn’t a very hard decision to make because by then, the viability of pre-need plans was making headlines. With the principal that was refunded to us, I decided to start a home based business that somehow eased the monetary demands on my husband.

While everything was ok, I, as a mother, could not help but worry for my daughter’s future. What if something happened to me or her dad? I knew my daughter will not lack for relatives who would take her in but who was to say if her schooling and other material needs will be met?

Because of that, I decided to invest on my daughter herself. My daughter had started school and seemed to have the potential to go far. She became her preschool’s class valedictorian and was given a scholarship for the next school year. Encouraged by her teachers, I enrolled her in an after school tutorial program. It turned out to be the right thing to do because that year, she once again reaped awards left and right and got another scholarship.

My daughter’s outstanding performance in school has been consistent over the years and this has brought me and my family much joy. She has also chosen to continue with her after-school tutorial sessions, and honestly, I am relieved, as some of the lessons they are now teaching in her level are beyond my comprehension!

After all these years, I’ve realized that my daughter, even while in school, has contributed a lot to our family’s budget. Because of the scholarships she has been receiving, my husband and I have one less financial obligation to worry about. Given the high cost of tuition fees, the money saved has been substantial. A big part of this we have put in a trust fund in our daughter’s name. And why not? She has earned it.

Now that my daughter is older, I am a little less worried about the possibility of her being left alone in case something untoward happens to me or my husband. She has been well-taken care of, her schooling and other monetary issues almost non-existent.

I believe that all these would not have been possible if she, at an early age, was not under the tutelage of good teachers and tutors. I, as her mother, will be the first to admit that I would not have been the best person she can approach if she had problems understanding certain subjects in school. And I believe that I have done a better job as a mother, because the time we spent together has been mostly for bonding and leisure.

My daughter now wants to go to a certain school for her degree. Her college plan might have been able to absorb some of the tuition costs, had I continued to pay for it. But because I did not, and instead chose to pay for tutorial lessons, I am now sure that she will be able to take the course of her choice in her favored university, even without my help. How? Through scholarships, of course, scholarships that my daughter is confident she will be able to get because of her academic preparedness.