THE UNIVERSITY of the East denied the claims of students that scholarship grants were unjustly revoked.

UE President Ester Garcia said such claims were without basis.

Garcia, in a letter to Commission on Higher Education Director IV Dr. Virginia Akiate Ceso III, said that the number of first time candidates for scholarship surged, prompting the university to create a committee to evaluate the applications.

She stressed that the school immediately notified all affected candidates of their disqualification and they “were given sufficient period by the university to settle their tuition and other school fees.”

“Note that prior to the commencement of the semester, the students who were candidates to qualify for the scholarship grants have been notified by the University of their possible eligibility based on the scholarship program of the University pending further review of their qualifications,” Garcia said.

However, the University Student Council believes otherwise.

“It was very clear that the qualifications for the scholarship grant are only based on the acquired General Weighted Average and the number of units acquired in the recent semester. It was stated from the Student Manual that the basis and qualifications are renewable every semester,” USC President Justine Calatong said.

“These guidelines provided by the UE Student Manual together with their notification of qualification in the scholarship grant received by the students prior to the commencement of the Second Semester are the basis of the students in knowing that they are really qualified from the scholarship grants,” she added.

Calatong argued that the memorandum for holding and reviewing of scholarships was only disseminated after the enrollment for the second semester.

“This caused students who were promised of the said scholarships to enroll since according to the UE online enrollment they need not pay for the down payment as they are grantees of the said scholarship. With that, it dismisses the claim that the admin informed the students immediately,” she said.

Garcia reiterated that the school’s scholarship grant is “not a matter of right but a mere privilege” granted to qualified students burdened with conditions that may be set by the grantor.

“In this regard, the University would like to take this opportunity to extend its sincere apology to the disqualified candidates in the premature release of the list of candidates for scholarship without first reviewing their qualifications,” she said.

“However, as scholarship is a mere privilege, the grantee must at all times possess all the qualifications to be eligible as scholar or maintain his status in the roster of qualified scholars.”