The policy of “Don’t Let Cost Issues Disrupt Study” is proved at UGM. This was seen at a ceremony of Undergraduate Graduation on 22 November 2011 at Grha Sabha Pramana, Bulaksumur. As many as 16 graduates from the Selection of Excellent Students from Underprivileged Families Program (PBUTM), 6 have graduated cum laude. Two graduates, Yudi Kurniawan and Sri Harmini, could not even hide their happiness.
Yudi Kurniawan felt very happy when he was inaugurated as Bachelor of Engineering. Going back to his past when he was still in class III of SMA Negeri IV in Yogyakarta, many sad events befell his life. In fact, he was desperate to continue his study. "At that time, my parents were divorced, and my widowed mother had stroke and could not get up. I thought she was thinking about me too much," he said on the sidelines of the graduation.
Amid the turmoil, Yudi became confused, not knowing what to do. He felt he did not have any expectations. However, his good luck came when he was called by a Counseling teacher in his school who asked him to sign up at UGM through PBUTM program. "Alhamdullilah, due to school’s proposal, I did pass and admitted to Department of Physics, Faculty of Engineering," he said.
Yudi was grateful, because as he was studying at Faculty of Engineering, his mother gradually recovered. Now she has even fully recovered. His happiness is doubled as he has passed the final test phase to work at Schlumberger. "Thank God for the PBUTM, I feel the program is a blessing, it is necessary to continue. I cannot imagine if there was no PBUTM program," he explained.
Similar opinion was also said by Sri Harmini, PBUTM recipient student in Department of Agricultural & Food Technology, Faculty of Agricultural Technology, class 2007. As the daughter of a seller of meatballs, she felt grateful for getting advantages from the PBUTM. "When I was in high school in my third year, my father suffered from hernia and had surgery. Let alone school fees, we even got difficulty in the treatment costs," Sri Harmini said.
Similar to Yudi’s experience, Sri Harmini said amid the financial difficultiest and the intention to go to school, she was called by a Counseling teacher and was asked to register through PBUTM program. "Alhamdullilah, I was accepted," she said.
Although she has graduated, she is not willing to find a job yet, but focusing on finding a scholarship to continue her study in S2. She does that to make her dream come true in becoming a lecturer. "For me, PBUTM is a blessing from Allah, I hope this program can be continued," said Sri Harmini who did a research in Sweden some time ago.