Community Services
The goal of the Community Services department is to assist students in the areas of scholarships, health, visas, and international student concerns, freeing them to focus on their IGSL academic, character, and ministry training. Visa and health services are also available to IGSL faculty.
Scholarships — IGSL has a strong scholarship program which provides tuition, textbooks, housing and visas for qualified students. Students are expected to raise their own funds for their living expenses. In return, the students render 2 to 5 hours per week of service to the school, depending on the type of scholarship they receive. To see a more detailed explanation of IGSL's scholarship program, download this presentation.
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Health Services — IGSL maintains a small clinic for basic medical care and for emergency first aid. Some medicines are donated to the school by drug companies, and are available in the clinic for the use of IGSL faculty, staff, and students, their spouses and children. Anyone in the IGSL community may also visit the clinic to check weight, blood pressure, and blood sugar. Louise Hubert manages IGSL's Health Services.
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Filipino students are required to be up-to-date members of PhilHealth, and they will be asked to show evidence of their current PhilHealth status at the beginning of each semester. International students and their families are required to have an insurance policy with benefits equivalent to those provided by PhilHealth. International scholarship students receive this insurance benefit as part of their scholarship.
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All IGSL Scholarship Students are enrolled in the Student Medical Assistance Fund (SMAF), which provides for emergency care/hospitalization not covered by PhilHealth or Insurance. The student may avail of SMAF in case of accidents or illness requiring hospitalization. SMAF will cover 80% of the cost of the emergency room visit or hospitalization, up to P40,000 while funds are available.
Visa Services — All international students and faculty are holders of 47a2 visas. This visa is called a "Special Non-Immigrant Visa," and is available for students and faculty of international schools who have been granted this status by the Philippine Department of Justice. The visa is approved for two years at a time, and can be renewed each time it expires. Our school uses this visa category instead of student visas, because the student visa (9f) has no provision for family members.
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IGSL has a full-time staff member, Joel Del Rosario, who processes the visas on our behalf at the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Immigration. Faculty accounts are charged for the visa expenses, which amount to approximately P15,000 per year per person. The Community Services team makes sure that the visas are in order, are renewed on time, and that all records are kept up to date.
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International Student Care — Dan Hubert is our international student advisor, making sure that our international students are being given the assistance they need to succeed during their years in the Philippines. Kuya Dan also works to educate our faculty about the countries our students come from.
