As the college entrance test season makes a comeback, thousands of graduating students now prepare for one of the most crucial tests of their lives—much like how I spent endless nights studying and praying for a miracle last year. But this challenge not only revolves around studying through reviewers, review centers, and mock tests. It also poses the burden of paying for application fees, processing documents as requirements, and even taking a journey to the testing center itself.

I can totally relate, as someone who has been through the experience of paying up to more than a thousand pesos in total for application and transportation fees just to end up at the school where I did not pay a single peso. This further proves not only the financial expenses are what separates the privileged from those who are underserved, but the access to testing centers also determines who has a shot at attaining quality education.

There are many factors that contribute to students from remote areas’ inaccessibility to testing centers, limiting their potential to get into top schools in cities as well as the possibility for them to alleviate the family’s socioeconomic situation. One of these includes the long distance of their homes from testing centers, where students live in places that are far from schools and would have to take different types of transportation just to take an admissions test, especially those from mountainous and coastal communities. While I myself am from a rural community, I am fortunate enough to only need to take land transportations such as jeepneys and buses to my testing centers compared to those who still live in high terrain and shorelines.

But beyond the path to shading a scantron with the hopes of clinching one’s human right already awaits an obstacle from the beginning of the application period: the technological divide. Not all students have the same opportunity of possessing computing devices such as laptops or even cellphones given that most universities host online applications via websites with the rise in digital technology. But most of all, what pains students the most causing them to travel to cities just to take a four-hour test that does not promise a secured future is the lack of financial resources in their communities to host the CETs. I’ve encountered this situation multiple times as I repeatedly went to Manila taking up tests that did not guarantee me a slot among the country’s best schools since my local community did not have adequate materials and tools to host entrance tests of large universities.

Though it is worth acknowledging that some schools provide services such as free transportation especially for those who are from marginalized communities, some schools, especially private universities, are only able to host admission tests in their campuses, or sometimes, only in major cities in the provinces. This was a pain for someone who came from a small town, knowing that even if I already have access to a local testing center, it would still take me at least an hour to go to the testing center and take the test itself which already drains my energy the moment I enter the test hall. This situation contributes to the problems of students when it comes to accessibility, as those who live near cities that establish testing centers are given an upper hand.

Perhaps this explains how roughly a third of the recent UPCAT passers came from the National Capital Region. A reality of such should convince not only students and their parents who sacrifice to go to big cities in hopes of passing and attending prestigious schools, but also university administrators and local government officials especially in the education sector to give every student a fighting chance in the competitive field of college entrance tests. A competition where they would not need to wake up as early as three o’clock in the morning or even stay in hotels over the night spending thousands of pesos just to take a test where thousands are competing for only hundreds of slots. A battle where everyone takes the same mode of transportation to the testing site while a greater budget is allocated for local government units to be able to host entrance tests with ease.

As Philippine universities now near the opening of their applications, a collective effort among everyone who aims for quality education to be accessible for all students regardless of socioeconomic class should be expected. As students study tirelessly for their CETs while their parents provide their needs concerning application and document fees, more should be expected from those who set up the applications and establish the testing centers.

University administrations could find more efficient ways to ensure that the mission of providing quality education is attainable while the educational sector in government secures the necessary funding to provide testing materials for every application. Through steps taken by everyone involved in the process of sending a student to college, one goal remains clear: a basic human right such as the right to education should not feel incredibly too difficult to achieve when one puts in the effort while being supported by others. The road full of bumps and potholes then finally becomes a path comfortable enough for students and their families who dream of a brighter future easier to travel on.

The Frontman