University of the Philippines Open University students who are running for Latin Honors should enroll in the prescribed load per term. As per the UP University Code (ART 414):
“Students who are candidates for graduation with honors must have taken during each semester/trimester/quarter not less than 15 units of credit load or the normal load prescribed in the curriculum in cases where such normal load is less than 15 units unless the lighter load was due to justifiable causes such as health reasons, the unavailability of courses needed in the curriculum to complete the full loads, or the fact that the candidate is a working student.”
To justify underloading under these conditions, the submission of pertinent documents/evidence is required:
- For health reasons: submission of a medical certification from a government health facility (if the medical certificate is from a personal attending physician, the certification should be validated by a government health facility)
- For unavailability of courses: an approved plan of study and a written letter from the student as to why there is no course available or a certification from the PC that there is no available course available for the student
- For employment reasons (Full-time employee renders an average of 40 hours per week): copies of appointment paper (which shall also indicate the duration of employment and job description) and certified true copy of payment slip.
- No more courses to take based on the curriculum: an approved plan of study and a written letter from the student stating that there is no course to take based on the curriculum or a certification from the PC that the student does not have any courses to take based on the program curriculum.
If the reason for underloading is not any of the above and if the applicant is not running for Latin Honors, the applicant should submit a letter addressed to the Faculty Dean detailing the reason/s for underloading.
Applying for Underloading
The student must complete the Application for Underloading and submit all the required documents/evidence during the registration period. Applications with incomplete submission of required documents/evidence shall not be processed/evaluated.
The application for underloading and the submitted documents/evidence shall be forwarded to the student’s Faculty of Study. The application passes through the following:
1) The Program Chair Endorses the application to → 2) The Faculty Secretary, who recommends for approval/disapproval the application → 3) The faculty of Study Dean acts on the application
The Faculty of Study shall then forward the application to the Registration Unit of OUR, which shall then inform the student of the result of his/her application.
If an application is approved, the OUR will manually change the status in the Online Registration System from “in process” to “proceed to payment.”
If disapproved, the student should follow the advice of the Faculty of Study to be able to proceed with the enrollment process.