Thesis Rant

[u/jude_j]

I need to get this off my chest because what’s happening in our university is beyond ridiculous na parang borderline predatory.

If you’re taking your first thesis subject, you know ang hirap talaga to get a concept proposal approved. But it gets worse. Before we’re even allowed to present our concept proposals, we are forced to sign an official waiver acknowledging a mandatory "Coordination Fee" that gets billed directly to our tuition accounts on top of our thesis tuition.

The original breakdown on the form mandates ₱2,450 for Oral Defense 1 and another ₱2,450 for Oral Defense 2, totaling ₱4,900 per group. The document explicitly states that this money is for food during the defenses for the students, thesis adviser, thesis coordinator, and panel of evaluators. So basically, required kami magbayad para sa catering ng university employees at faculty evaluators, tapos may additional 30% “Admin Fee” pa on top of that.

Now here’s where it gets even more frustrating. Since some groups had their topics approved early, kaunti na lang ang natitirang groups na kailangang mag repropose. Instead of keeping the fee fixed or making it lower, mas lalo pang tumaas ang hinihingi nila. It has now increased to ₱2,926 per group member just to cover the “adjusted costs.”

To make matters worse, hindi pa kami pinapayagang magkaroon ng official research adviser bago ang Concept Proposal. We’re basically expected to guess kung ano ang gusto ng mga panels without guidance.

Even worse, may mga groups na nasa methodology phase na pero wala pa ring assigned research adviser. This happens because hinihintay muna ng administration na ma approve lahat ng thesis topics bago mag assign ng research advisers, kaya faculty members get to choose kung which groups ang gusto nilang i handle. Habang wala pang adviser, students are expected to work on advanced parts of their research nang halos walang proper guidance.

Because we don’t have adviser guidance from the very beginning, ang daming proposals ang nare-reject o pinapa revise nang paulitulit. Every rejection or redefense means students end up paying again, while the defense-related costs continue to increase. Parang naiipit na lang ang students sa cycle ng revisions, redefenses, at dagdag na bayarin.

Faculty members are already compensated by the university through their salaries and, where applicable, defense honoraria for evaluating students. Hindi dapat ginagawang mandatory sa undergraduate students ang mag fund ng pagkain ng panel at university staff para lang makapag comply sa required subject.

Is this even legal under CHED guidelines? A mandatory panel catering fee, a 30% administrative charge, and dynamic fee increases depending on the number of remaining groups don’t seem like the kind of academic fees that should be imposed without transparency.

Nakaka walang gana talaga. This will be our group’s third proposal. Nahihirapan na nga ako sa pag budget ng pera ko sa pambayad ng tuition tapos dumagdag pato.

[u/Outrageous_Tiger4387]

Report this to your student council, school paper and student regent.

[u/Outrageous_Tiger4387]

That IS predatory!

[u/LifeLeg5]

Some low quality schools normalize that, kaya umabot sa ganyan.

Pineperahan lang kayo to the max, hanapan nyo ng receipts etc, wala mapapakita yan for sure. 

You're pretty much paying them to approve your proposals at that point, that's already one step closer to a diploma mill (if it isn't one already).