THE ASSOCIATION of Transferee Students (ATS) became an official sector in the Sanggunian on April 4 after surpassing the 10% signatory requirement of the sectoral referendum with 1,918 (19.4%) votes, according to the Ateneo Commission on Elections (COMELEC).

As a recognized sector in the Sanggunian, the ATS can represent transferee students’ interests in the Central Assembly (CA) and coordinate with the Loyola Schools (LS) administration.

14 transferee students spearheaded the petition for sectoral accreditation, with Lead Petitioner Felisa Foronda (2 AB POS) serving as a liaison between ATS and the Ateneo COMELEC and overseeing the whole application process.

According to Foronda, the initial plan was to form a student organization, but upon recognizing and experiencing the gaps in transferee representation, they set their minds on becoming a full-fledged sector.

The transferee experience

When first entering the LS, transferees must undergo their Individual Program of Study (IPS) adjustment and validation to avoid retaking the subjects they already took in their previous schools.

However, Foronda stated that the administration must address the ineffectiveness of the information dissemination regarding these processes as it’s difficult to keep track of all the dates and documents that need to be fixed.

She also observed that other universities have designated offices and organizations for irregular students, while the University had none. As a result of these gaps within the University, she noted that some transferees have gotten delayed up until their senior year as their subjects had not yet been validated.

When it comes to the enlistment process, Foronda added that transferees are left with the “remnants of the remnants.” Since transferees often have to wait to enlist on free-for-alls, she explained that class slots were either conflicting with other subjects or tagged for a specific course or year. Hence, transferees are unable to enlist for their advised subjects despite having already taken the pre-requisites.

Moreover, ATS member and petitioner Sophia Barbas (2 BS CH) mentioned the struggle of adjusting to a new University and environment. She mentioned that, outside of events like the Freshman Orientation Seminar, transferees do not get assigned into the same blocks as their coursemates due to transferees having a unique IPS.“It’s only in our [Interdisciplinary Electives and Physical Education classes], that we get to be with other transfer students,” she said.

With that said, Foronda explained that the ATS having an official seat in the CA and a budget allows sector members to launch more projects and propose reforms to address the said concerns.

Initiatives and solutions

Prior to its sectoral accreditation, the ATS’s 15- to 20-member technical working group had already launched some initiatives to improve the experience of transferees in the LS. Among these was a year-round Transferee Helpdesk on their Facebook page that is geared towards assisting students through processes such as subject validation, IPS adjustment, and enlistment.

Additionally, for two consecutive years, they have held the Transferee Welcoming General Assembly to orient students on those processes. They also released a semester-long survey held from August to December 2021 to gauge the number of transferees in the LS community along with their present concerns.

Despite the successes of these initiatives, Foronda shared that ATS’s biggest challenges concerned the sector’s limited manpower and the formalities that came with petitioning for accreditation such as preparing the needed documents and campaigning.

“The process of the sectoral petition relies on you gaining this amount of votes—10% of the student body. Ilan lang ba ang transferees natin sa Ateneo? (How many transferees are there in the Ateneo?) 205. So it’s very difficult to gain that amount of traction when you’re already a small sector itself,” she explained.

Sanggunian Sectoral Affairs Division Head Anton Burog corroborated the time-consuming accreditation process, saying that it is difficult but not impossible as the ATS has now shown.

He further noted that ATS’s accreditation is a “really big step” for the CA in terms of student representation. “All the credit really goes to the people who petitioned. They’re the ones who really worked hard for it and I want to congratulate [them],” Burog added.

Hopes for the future

Moving forward, Foronda only hopes that transferees could have the same experiences as regular students, even with the “smallest” struggles like enlistments and finding a block.

“I hope that future transferees—I feel like that’s why we set up the sector in the first place—do not have to go through that na. That by the time that they’re in University, they’re well acclimated and well taken into account by the administration,” she said.

Still, Foronda encouraged her fellow transferees to not get discouraged with their experiences so far, and assured them that they made the right choice to transfer.

“You’ll eventually find a good community within Ateneo. Whether it’s transferees, whether it’s within your course, whether it’s within your organization, you’ll find great people who’ll help you appreciate the University culture,” she said.