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General Info | Student life | Family life | Davao City

Married Couples and Families

We are family-friendly at Newlife School of Midwifery!

If you are married and have children please don't let that deter you from considering attending our school. We have received many families during the past 10 years, all of whom have loved their experience!

Married couples live 'off campus' in apartments or houses and they are required to provide for their own room and boarding needs. We do not maintain long-term apartments for families coming and going due to the fact that different families have different and unique needs. However, we can assist families to find a suitable place to live prior to their arrival and we can help them set up their own residences.

A projected set-up cost for an apartment is estimated between $1000 - $2000 inclusive of the purchase of furniture and appliances. These costs vary upon the family and their respective needs. Rent varies depending on the size of the apartment or house and runs anywhere between $200 - $400 per month. We strongly recommend that families plan to arrive 1-2 months prior to the school start date in order to provide adequate time to find and set up a new home.

Typically, we can also provide a Filipino 'helper' who will do all the marketing, cooking and cleaning for each family. If you have small children there are also nannies that can assist with the children and therefore help alleviate some of the load required to study and do clinic rotations.

Employment For Husbands

Foreigners are not allowed to work in the Philippines and earn a salary. Some married applicants have assumed their husbands would be able to work while they are studying at the school. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Philippine law does not make provision for employment of foreigners. There are concessions made if the husband works as an international consultant for a large corporation or if he makes a substantial financial investment in the country to start a new business venture in which Filipinos would be employed. But this requires a special visa and the documented sponsorship of a Filipino national representing a corporation or business partner. In addition, any wages earned if the husband was to be employed doesn't merit any plans that would help pay for the potential student's tuition or meet their cost of living. Current average daily wages for college graduates is about $5/day.

Education Needs For Children

If you have school age children there are two great schools to choose from: Faith Academy and MICA (Mindanao Int'l Christian Academy). These schools were established to serve the missionary community and both use American based curriculum and standards. Faith Academy is a sister satellite campus of the internationally recognized Faith Academy located in Manila which is considered one of the top missionary schools in the world. Faith Adademy Davao was established in the 1980's and serves 1st through 8th grade. MICA High School was established about 6 years ago and serves high school students of missionary families. MICA has recently completed construction of a a new school building adjacent to Faith Academy. If you're interested in either of these schools please view their respective websites; www.faith.edu.ph or www.micadavao.org. You may also contact us for more information.

Missionary Community

Davao City is home to a large missionary community. There are approximately 100 missionary families living and serving here in the city. Some of these missionaries are invovled in translation projects, church planting, community development, health care, etc. In addition, there is a growing number of American expats listed with the American Embassy as residing in Davao City. Some of these people are here for business interests or they are retired. Therefore, the overall size of the American [and Canadian and European] population here in Davao gives opportunity to develop extended friendships.