“Elbi, for all its greatness centered on honor, excellence and service, has become a cross for many to bear”
FIRST off, congratulations to the applicants who made it into UPCAT 2025! Surely, setting your foot into the great outdoors through your experiences in the university is an experience worth learning. Here’s to your journey inside the great institution as the new ‘Iskolar ng Bayan.’
A quick mention to those who will be entering the vast and luscious University of the Philippines Los Baños, the campus sitting at the foot of Mount Makiling. Elbi, as what we colloquially call it, is home to its roster of agriculturists, economists, and even people working their path to become artists. It is here where society’s most colorful figures have honed their minds for their chosen paths.
Elbi, for all its greatness centered on honor, excellence and service, has become a cross for many to bear. The heavy workload and expectations on academic work aside, having to empty your pocket every single day for anyone living and surviving within its bounds is a struggle.
Take this case for example; a student spends P200 on an average for his daily expenses. An average meal would cost around P50-70. On top of that is the amount of money needed for classroom needs, such as an examination bluebook or a handful of documents — modules, reviewers, and assignments – printed outside. Other items, like a snack to keep the stomach full throughout the day, can be enjoyed if there is spare change left.
However, the money trail does not end in the daily expense. One’s travel to and from UPLB is also taken into consideration in computing the cost. A one-way bus ride from Cubao or Buendia would cost at a discounted price of P122; P79 for the slashed rate if you’d be taking it from Alabang. Jeepney rides are also crucial as these are not only being done as they drop off at the designated stop. Do take note that this only applies to those who take their commute on their way to the campus.
We now have the daily and weekly expenses; dorm payments can now complete the long list. Student housing usually costs P800 every month, with the electricity bill — measured through the appliances being used — adding up to the total. Drinking water, too, is also paid every month by the student. As much as I could speak of its convenience, these in-campus residences have served as its occupants’ dumping ground to throw their own filthy behavior. For dormitories outside, rent starts at P2,000 per person. Electricity, water, and even the internet payables are computed separately. Some of the newer ones, those with more lavish rooms, are more costly.
Has it been hard for us, its students, to endure the cost of living inside the campus? I think the answer is already written.
Which is why I could never accept the reason – and the rationale – of any plan to increase the rent for its student dormitories initiated by the UPLB administration. There have been no proper, transparent accounts of financial statements that would look into their own money trail – of how the PhP800 monthly rate every campus dormer would pay.
If they could increase the prices of appliance consumption here in campus dormitories without seeking proper consultation from its students, they could do the same too for the monthly rent.
Who, then, is supposed to represent our concerns with this possible move? The university-wide dormitory alliance? Have they tried to coordinate with the student council? We turn to them in this time of great need; such pleas, unfortunately, have yet to be heard by them. One may see our helplessness, but we have now been brought to our own apathy.
To the incoming freshmen reading this, may this essay prepare you to face this blunt reality of living in this paradise we all call UPLB. The costs of living here are high, and will continue to go high, until you lose all the money left in your bag.
(The author tries to cure his haywire from his personal grind as he writes essays away from the news. For comments, you may reach him at ngrolando2003@yahoo.com.)
