AMA offers 50% scholarship for pre-need firm beneficiaries

Academic institution AMA Education System has offered to provide a 50-percent scholarship assistance to planholders of distressed pre-need companies.

AMA signed yesterday an agreement with the Parents Enabling Parents Coalition (PEP), a group of planholders belonging to cash-strapped pre-need firms, to provide scholarship assistance in any of its 200 branches nationwide, including subsidiary schools.

Patrick Azanza, AMA’s senior vice president for operations and marketing, said the school has allotted P750 million in benefits to PEP members.

The AMA Group includes AMA Computer University, AMA Computer Learning Center, ABE International Business College, AMA International Institute of Technology, Norwegian Maritime Academy, St. Augustine School of Nursing, and AMA School of Medicine.

Azanza said the program covers 50 percent of the tuition and other school-related fees to be incurred by the enrolling children of the PEP members this school year and for the duration of the course selected by the students.

"These students deserve to have quality education," he said. "We just affirm our commitment to provide quality education to everybody."

Initially, the program will cover the first 5,000 students who will apply for the coverage of the scholarship. Students need to just present a photocopy of the pre-need plan in order to avail of the program.

For his part, PEP president Philip Piccio appealed to other schools to follow AMA’s move.

PEP is a group of pre-need educational planholders of College Assurance Plan Philippines, Inc., Platinum Plans, Pacific Traditional Educational Plan, The Professional Group, and Capitol Plans.

Earlier, businessman Mark Jimenez donated P25 million to Pacific Plan Inc. education plan subscribers and another P25 million to College Assurance Plan subscribers so the children-beneficiaries of the failed plans may enroll this school year.

Ailing pre-need firms had blamed the deregulation of tuition, which caused a tremendous rise in the cost of education, for their tight liquidity problems.