For many Filipino students, the final year of university should be a time of excitement and possibility. Instead, financial pressure, uncertainty about employment, limited professional networks, and a lack of confidence can make the transition from university to work one of the most difficult stages of their lives. Bernales Foundation exists to help deserving Filipino students cross that final hurdle.
We provide financial assistance, mentorship, career preparation, and access to professional opportunities for underserved Filipino students in their final year of university. Our goal is not simply to help students graduate. We want them to enter the workforce believing that they are capable, prepared, and deserving of opportunity.
Because before young people can change their circumstances, contribute to their communities, and help address poverty, unemployment, and other social injustices, they first need to trust themselves and believe that a better future is possible. Finish your degree. Build your confidence. Start your career. Pass it forward.
Our Mission
To provide financial aid, scholarship programmes, mentorship, and career support to underserved Filipino students in their final year of university, helping them complete their education and successfully transition into employment.
Our Vision
To develop confident and employment-ready Filipino graduates who believe in their own potential, build meaningful careers, uplift their families and communities, and contribute to nation-building.
More Than a Scholarship
Financial assistance can help a student graduate. But graduation alone does not guarantee that a young person is ready for employment.
Many students leave university without enough opportunities to speak with professionals, understand workplace expectations, prepare for interviews, build networks, or develop confidence in presenting themselves to employers. Bernales Foundation was created to help close this gap.
Our programmes combine financial assistance with mentorship, career preparation, professional networks, and employment opportunities so that scholars receive support not only to complete their education, but also to take their first confident steps into professional life. And when our scholars become established professionals themselves, we ask them to return and help the next generation.
This creates a multiplier effect. One scholar becomes one graduate. One graduate becomes one professional. One professional becomes a mentor. That mentor can then help another student begin the same journey.
Over time, every scholar supported by Bernales Foundation has the potential to multiply the impact of the opportunity they once received.
The programme
Finish Your Degree
Bernales Foundation provides financial assistance to qualified students in their final year of university who may be experiencing financial barriers that could affect their ability to graduate.
We want students to focus on completing their education without allowing short-term financial challenges to undo years of hard work.
Build Your Confidence
Academic qualifications are important, but entering the workforce also requires confidence.
Bernales Foundation helps scholars recognise their strengths, communicate their abilities, understand their professional value, and develop greater trust in themselves.
We want every scholar to believe:
I am capable. I have something valuable to contribute. I deserve the opportunity to build a better future.
Meet Your Mentor
Every scholar can be connected with an industry mentor who can provide practical guidance about careers, professional development, workplace expectations, and life after university.
Scholars are encouraged to meet their mentors once a month throughout the programme.
Mentorship gives scholars a space to ask questions, seek advice, learn from experience, and begin building a professional network before entering the workforce.
Start Your Career
Bernales Foundation works with its network of businesses, employers, entrepreneurs, professionals, and organisations to help scholars access internships, interviews, employment opportunities, introductions, and career guidance.
While employment cannot be guaranteed, our goal is to reduce the distance between talented graduates and the people who can give them their first opportunity.
Pass It Forward
Someone helps you move forward. When you are able, you help someone else move forward too.
After scholars graduate, secure employment, and gain professional experience, we encourage them to return to the Foundation as mentors for future scholars.
This is where the multiplier effect begins.
A scholar receives support today.
That scholar graduates and becomes a professional.
That professional eventually becomes a mentor.
That mentor helps another student begin the same journey.
One opportunity creates another.
One mentor develops another mentor.
One scholar can eventually help many more scholars.
Finish Strong. Believe in Yourself. Move Forward. Pass It On.
A scholarship can help one student graduate. Mentorship can help that graduate develop confidence and direction.
A career opportunity can change the future of an individual and a family. And when that graduate returns to mentor another student, one opportunity begins to multiply.
Bernales Foundation Helping Filipino students turn graduation into confidence, employment, and opportunity.