Scholarships are a costly but fulfilling endeavor. Starting in 2014, ISB began granting scholarships to two eighth graders each year, with the scholarships intended to last through their high school careers. The program lasted for five years before ultimately being dropped in 2019. At the end of the program, 10 Thai scholars who otherwise would have been unable to afford tuition here graduated from ISB. 

Nevertheless, the question of whether the program should have endured rather than be scrapped remains. As a school with so many incredible resources, what were the reasons we could not support a program that bolsters the school’s mission statement to be “caring global citizens”?

Why it Ended

As Deputy Head of School Mark De Vries cites, the reasons for dropping the program were logistical in nature and not reflective of ISB values. One of the main problems with the program was the difficulty in securing scholarships and financial aid for students beyond high school. Since ISB provides a high school education in English, scholars had trouble readjusting to the Thai university system. Moreover, scholars were essentially being prepped to attend universities in the United States but could not always obtain scholarships, which can be elusive for international students. As a result, ISB helped the students financially with a one-time payment of $10,000. “It became a real out-of-pocket cost, so financially very expensive,” Mr. De Vries says. In addition to this, ISB paid for uniforms, and trips to DELVE and the Environmental Wilderness Campus. 

He further emphasizes that the school had to decide whether the program was worth it — specifically, whether the impact outweighed the cost. “The two overriding factors [were] that it was costing us a lot of money and that the impact we had was only on a few students.” Attending ISB as a high school student costs approximately 1,128,000 baht (or $32,830) per year, bringing the total cost of a full high school education to around 4,512,000 baht (or $131,317).

Many more complications came in the form of selecting students for the program. Dean of Students Andy Vaughan recalls how the program’s exclusivity did not work in its favor. “We’re in a country of 70 million people,” he says. “How do you pick two students to come to ISB each year? And what message does that send?” 

In addition to this, scholars often had trouble adjusting to life in Nichada. Housing, for instance, was reliant on volunteers, further complicating the process of identifying and selecting students. Another difficulty was students adapting to the school environment. “We had some students for whom coming here was really challenging because they were walking around with students from the top one percent in terms of economic population, and that wasn’t their story,” Mr. Vaughan says. “That was sometimes hard, but they felt incredibly grateful.”

Due to these factors, the scholarship program was ultimately ended. The school, instead, turned its attention to supporting local schools and relief programs, just as it did back in 2004 when  ISB helped rebuild the R35 School in Khao Lak after the tsunami, even providing English teachers to the school. According to Mr. De Vries, the school found that there was “more of an impact” helping entire schools rather than continuing to support the scholarship program. “We have to look at our own context,” he says. “If you can make a significant impact on 200 children rather than two in a year, that’s a valid point [to consider],” he says. 

How Other Schools Do It

Of the six IASAS conference schools, only ISB and Singapore American School (SAS) do not currently have scholarship programs in place. Schools like the International School Manila (ISM) and the International School of Kuala Lumpur (ISKL) have extensive scholarship programs. 

ISM, for example, has had a scholarship program in place since 1967, with over 250 scholar graduates. Currently, the school supports five students each from Grades 8 to 12, making for a total of 25 scholars each year. According to ISM’s Director of Advancement, Anna Goco, because ISM has had a scholarship program for so long, there are not many obstacles in terms of maintaining it. “With the program running for more than 60 years now, similar processes remain in place,” she says. “Changes in promoting the scholarship search, like moving to social media advertising, is one of the things that have been implemented,” she says. ISM, in particular, has a long-standing relationship with universities, allowing scholars more opportunities to secure post-graduate scholarships. 

In addition to this, ISM’s program supports scholars’ uniforms, school meals, and educational electronic devices, as well as overseas trips for IASAS through the Victoria SyCip Herrera Scholarship Foundation. The foundation hosts fundraising events to help bankroll the program.

In a testimonial, Emman Sychiuco, an alum from the class of 2022, says that the ISM scholarship program was “nothing short of a life-changing experience.” He describes how the program enabled him to pursue his interests in robotics, science, swimming, and film-making. “It opened up so many pathways for me not only educationally, but most especially for myself.” Sychiuco is now studying mechanical engineering on a full-ride scholarship at New York University Abu Dhabi.

ISKL also has a thorough scholarship program. ISKL supports two scholars each from Grades 9 to 12, making for a total of eight scholars each year. Similarly, the school covers uniforms, exam fees, IASAS trips, books, and any educational devices. 

Director of Enrollment Management Christina Decu says that there are not many challenges financially, as the cost is included as part of the school’s annual budget. Ms. Decu also adds that the scholarship program is well worth it because of the positive impact the scholars have on the school. “Some of them are captains of a sports team,” she says. “I know one kid who is running our chess team.… They give back through being who they are.” 

She further explains why she thinks the scholarship program is so integral to ISKL. “I’m a guest here in Malaysia and sharing the possibility for some students [to go here] is giving back to the community, [which] is what you should do,” she says. “It’s our little part to make the world, hopefully, a better place.”

Would ISB Bring it Back? 

Just because ISB’s first attempt at the program did not work out does not mean that there is no chance a scholarship program could be reimplemented. 

“I would love to see something come back,” Mr. Vaughan says, “If we were to bring back this program, being able to identify the kind of student and the community from which we would draw that student would be something we’d have to take a long, thoughtful process to create.”

Nevertheless, according to Mr. De Vries, there are still financial barriers to consider. “We were basically spending the money from your parents that should be going into your education, for somebody else’s,” he says, “Although it fits the mission, let’s say it’s $10,000 per student per year, what can you do with that money if you work in a local community? You can do a lot more. That’s like $350,000, right? You can do a lot with that.”

Junior Jane Soderborg, however, believes that ISB could have a larger impact on the local community. “I understand why it ended,” she says. ”But I think that in terms of wanting to do more community-wide or have a bigger societal impact, I still don’t think we’re doing that necessarily.” 

She also acknowledges how service experiences help the community, but that ISB could strive to do more. “All the service experiences that ISB offers are good and they do help the community,” she says. “But there’s very little our school can do to bring a lot of people above the poverty line. So I think the excuse of ‘not making a huge difference in just a few people’s lives’ is not great.”