Plenty of students are feeling the financial grunt of college due to the pandemic. So, this college is allowing students to pay for classes with coconuts and other plants that can be sold to raise funds.
The Venus One Tourism Academy in Bali equip students with all they need to about the hospitality industry. The academy will be graduating their third class.
“Our hope is that the graduates will be successful in the world of tourism and we would like to thank the parents of students who have entrusted their children to study at the Venus One Tourism Academy campus,” the head of the graduation committee said.
This year hasn’t been the best year for students for obvious reasons. So, the institute of learning is giving students peace of mind when it comes down to their tuition fees. Venus One Tourism Academy has started accepting payment in coconuts.
“Initially, the tuition payment scheme was paid in installments three times, with the first installment at 50% [of the total], the second 20%, and the third 30%,” the Academy’s director, Wayan Pasek Adi Putra, told Bali Puspa, a local news outlet. “Because of this Covid pandemic, we have adapted a flexible policy. We produce virgin coconut oil, so students can pay their tuition by bringing coconuts.”
He added that the school also accepts moringa leaves, as well as the leaves from gotu kola, a culinary and medicinal plant. The coconut oil and assorted leaves will be combined into “herbal soap products,” that can be sold on-campus to raise money for the academy.
Some of the pandemic precautions happening at the school include the following:
Those who come from areas that have had higher numbers of coronavirus cases are not allowed to attend lectures, even if they haven’t tested positive themselves.
The student body has been divided into three groups who take their classes in shifts, and other now-normal sounding protocols (temperature checks, mask-wearing, and extra sanitation) have also been implemented.
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