ESTABLISHING THE GRACE SABAL MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP FUND. From left to right: Joseph Sabal of XU's Computing and Information Services Office, Dr Gerardo Sabal Jr, Xavier Ateneo president Fr Roberto C Yap SJ, and Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid director Glenda Orlanes after the signing of the memorandum of agreement creating the Grace Sabal Memorial Scholarship Program at XU.

Xavier University - Ateneo de Cagayan adds to its list of available scholarship programs the Grace Sabal Memorial Scholarship Fund to support the college education of academically-competent but financially-challenged students starting next school year.

The signing of the memorandum of agreement (MOA) between Dr Gerardo Sabal Jr, husband of the namesake, and Xavier Ateneo president Fr Roberto C Yap SJ transpired on Thursday, September 7 at the latter’s office, formalizing this engagement. 

The Grace Sabal Memorial Scholarship Fund has a seed donation of over Php320,000.00 as the original endowment fund capital. The earnings from which are intended solely to finance the academic scholarship awards to four deserving college students at a given school year.

As the fund manager, Xavier Ateneo, through the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid (OSFA), will annually screen, nominate, and choose from the incoming college freshmen applicants with “commendable academic achievements, preferably from among graduates of Xavier University High School and from the Philippine public secondary school system within Misamis Oriental” as recipients of the Grace Sabal Memorial Scholarship.

Grounds for nomination are the applicant’s previous academic records and potential as may be determined through tests and examinations that XU will administer.

Dr Sabal is an alumnus (high school and pre-Med) of Xavier Ateneo, whose family is now based in Arizona in the United States. He is just on vacation in Cagayan de Oro City to establish the Grace Sabal Memorial Scholarship Fund. 

This is the fourth endowment account of the Sabal family in the university.∎  

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For interested applicants, the guidelines of the Grace Sabal Memorial Scholarship Fund are the following:

a. The awardees shall enjoy the scholarship grant until their graduation from college, provided they continue to meet the following requirements:

i) He/she must maintain an average Quality Point Index (QPI) of at least 3.0 (B) every semester;
ii) He/she must have no grade lower than 2.0 (C) in any subject at the end of the school year;
iii) A grantee may be placed on probation should he/she incur a failing (F) mark but meets the required QPI, or does not meet the minimum QPI but does not incur a failing (F) mark in any of the subjects for a particular semester. The probation period shall be no more than one (1) semester.
iv) He/she must participate actively in at least one extra-curricular activity during the year;
v) He/she must render service hours every semester as a token of gratitude for his/her grant. A Freshman, Sophomore, or Junior grantee should complete ten (10) hours every semester, while a Senior year grantee should complete ten (10) hours for the year. Such service shall be as determined by the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid.

b. Scholarship awards will cover tuition, matriculation, and other fees each school year, subject to available funds. 

c. The enjoyment by the awardee of the scholarship shall automatically and completely terminate if:

i) He/she fails to maintain a normal course load each semester so as to graduate at the end of four school years;
ii) He/she fails to meet the above stated academic requirements;
iii) He/she abandons or relinquishes his/her scholarship or changes his/her course;
iv) He/she drops courses, or goes on leave, without prior written permission from the OSFA;
v) He/she fails to enroll in a school year; provided that if his/her non-enrolment is due to a disabling sickness, the continuation of his/her scholarship will be considered on a case by case basis by the benefactor and Xavier;
vi) He/she is found guilty of grave misconduct or misdemeanor in accordance with existing university policies, rules, and regulations; and
vii) In any of the above-mentioned cases of termination of the scholarship, the corresponding vacated award shall become available to a qualified student in the same level to fill in the corresponding slot. However, this provision shall not apply to the slot vacated by a student in his/her last year of college.