Domestic Work & Degrees: How Online Education Transforms OFW Futures
Article written by Georgina Reilly
Rowena had been the main provider for her family for years, which meant her own goals stayed on hold for ‘later’. ‘Later’ arrived only after her parents had passed and her son had already graduated from college himself. She said YES to a scholarship from Full Phils, and she’s now in her third year at AMA University, studying BA English Language online from Hong Kong, where she’s worked for the same employer for 12 years; an employer who, when Rowena first brought up studying, told her to choose between the job and school.
But she chose to do both.
Millions of Filipinos, similarly to Rowena, have left their families to work abroad — often taking on roles far below their skills or ambitions. For decades, this has been framed as an act of heroism, “bagong bayani”, and it is. But it is also the result of decades of Filipino economic policy, and it comes at a steep personal cost rarely discussed in the same breath as the sacrifices and remittances that keep the Philippine economy afloat.
Why Filipinos Enter Low-Skilled Overseas Work
The Philippines’ overseas labor movement did not happen by accident. The 1974 Labor Code, signed by Ferdinand Marcos Sr. during an unemployment crisis, was explicitly framed as temporary; as a way to bring in foreign currency and ease domestic unemployment until the economy caught up. It’s been ‘temporary’ for over fifty years. Deployment went from roughly 36,000 workers in 1975 to nearly ten times that within a decade. The agency built to manage it, later restructured into the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration and now the Department of Migrant Workers, was designed to run a stopgap, not the permanent system it has become.
Today, remittances from Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) are one of the country’s largest sources of foreign currency, reaching a record $35.63 billion in remittances in 2025 — equivalent to 7.3% of the Philippines’ gross domestic product (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, 2026).
Full Phils understands the OFW story as unfinished, not complete. What comes after (or during) the sacrifice for scholars in this program is a college diploma earned between shifts and in whatever hours are left over.
Behind that number are decisions shaped by limited choices at home:
- Wage gaps. A domestic worker in Hong Kong or the Middle East can earn several times what an equivalent or higher-skilled job pays in the Philippines.
- Limited upward mobility. Many OFWs left school early or never had access to affordable higher education, closing off the higher-paying, higher-skilled jobs that a degree would unlock.
- Cultural narrative of sacrifice. Migration is often framed not as a personal choice but as a family obligation.
Many OFWs have to calculate the trade-off between staying in the Philippines and working abroad. Migration is rarely treated as a personal choice so much as the answer to a calculation nobody really wants to run: what’s gained or lost by staying in the Philippines, against what’s gained or lost by leaving it. Better pay abroad. Less time with family. Money to care for ageing parents and put children through school. Isolation in a new work and social environment.
The Human Impact of Overseas Domestic Work
The legal reality underneath all of this doesn’t help. Domestic workers in Hong Kong are tied to a single named employer for the length of their contract and visa, meaning they can’t simply leave one household for another without returning to the Philippines and reapplying. This process is also costly.
One Full Phils Scholar, working for a new employer, is candid about the risk of simply being found out: “I’m afraid they will terminate me if I tell them I’m studying online now.” Another Scholar, Bonita, described how her situation worsened over time — her employer’s workload became unmanageable after a change in her employer’s personal life, leaving Bonita with almost no rest between 8 a.m. and 11:30 p.m. Thus, studying occurs within working conditions that the scholars themselves don’t control.
And yet, resilience is the throughline. One scholar described the exhaustion of “trying to turn on my brain for school after a long day of physical work” and what gets her through it: “I look at my fellow scholars, and I realize we are all in this together. The community support from Full Phils keeps me grounded when I feel like I’m running on empty.”
The Rise of Online Further Education for OFWs
Until recently, ‘going back to school’ was not a realistic option for most OFWs. Studying meant flying home, taking a leave of absence, or giving up on income the family depended on. Online, accredited Philippine degree programs through partners such as the University of the Philippines Open University, Philippine Women’s University, and AMA University have changed that.
What makes this model work is not just increased accessibility, but:
- Flexibility. Scholar Ludeliet studies “when taking the kids to their afternoon activities or late at night when the kids are in bed,” and dedicates her full day off each week to a library, away from distractions. Scholar Bonita works a 1 p.m.–10 p.m. shift and still opens her coursework portal at night, “even when I feel sleepy,” rather than risk paying for an extension.
- Recognition. Under the current administration, Philippine higher education policy accredits online programs to carry the same academic weight, the same diploma, and the same government recognition as their on-campus equivalents.
- Empowerment. Before her scholarship, Ludeliet says she saw herself “primarily through the lens of my job title”, and now: “I see myself as a student, a leader and a future graduate… I am more than my circumstances, and I have a voice that deserves to be heard.” Scholar Elie describes a similar shift — from someone “just surviving” to “actively building a future.”
- Ripple effect. Scholar Elie’s son “especially looks up to me, and that inspires him to aim higher.” Scholar Rowena, who returned to school after her own son had already graduated from university, is now pursuing a degree in English Language so she can work as a home-based online ESL tutor.
Why NGOs Like Full Phils Matter
Government policy created the pathway for Filipinos to work abroad, but has been slower to build the pathways toward reintegration, career growth, and long-term financial stability. OFWs are essential enough to keep the economy standing, but overlooked enough that almost nothing is built to help them do anything but keep sending money home. That is the gap organizations like Full Phils exist to fill.
- Not just funding. Scholar Victoria described the scholarship in blunter terms than most: “This scholarship is more than financial support. It feels like someone is believing in me.” For scholars balancing a full workday against a full course load, that belief seems to matter almost as much as the accreditation does.
- Community. Scholar May pointed beyond the tuition support and workshops entirely: “The scholar gatherings, wellness sessions, and the Christmas party made a big impact too. I’m happy to be surrounded by a supportive community. It’s made me a better person.”
- Workshops. Scholar Ludeliet credits the Digital Literacy Excel workshop with Claudia Montero for practical, immediately usable skills, and the Entrepreneurship 101 workshop with Zach Berkenkotter for something less tangible but equally important: “It shifted my perspective on what it means to be an OFW. We aren’t just here to work; we are building assets, skills and networks that we can take home.”
- Financial literacy. Scholars Bonita and Nice both named the financial literacy workshop as what stuck with them most. Nice specifically credits it with teaching her to open a local bank account strategically around exchange rates, a detail that shows how practical this support is. Scholar Diana credits the same workshop: “Before, I used to send around 90% of my salary home. On my days off, I’d sometimes have nothing. I’d just go hiking to the Peak because it was free, and sometimes I’d go a whole day without eating. Since attending financial literacy workshops through Full Phils, I’ve built up real savings.”
Full Phils is more than a scholarship fund. Workshops that teach real, usable skills. It develops a community scholars actually lean on. Migrant workers deserve a future built for their dreams just as much as for supporting their families back home.
What Comes Next
Supporting an OFW’s education is an investment in a workforce that is already carrying a significant share of the Philippine economy on its back, asking only for the chance to build something more permanent than a remittance receipt.
In the scholars’ own words, addressed directly to the people who fund these scholarships:
“You aren’t just paying for tuition; you are investing in a human life… You are giving us the tools to rewrite our stories, to reclaim our time, and to show our families that education is a door that should never be closed to us.” — Ludeliet
“This scholarship is a hope to every OFW like me. It proves that someone believes in me, and that belief fuels my determination to keep going, finish my studies, and succeed.” — Elie
“This scholarship has truly changed my life. It removed my financial stress and allowed me to focus on my studies… it proves that someone believes in my success.” — Bonita
For sponsors and donors, supporting Full Phils means:
- Funding scholarships that let OFWs complete an accredited degree without giving up their jobs abroad.
- Supporting workshops that scholars consistently name as changing more than just their transcript.
- Listening to what scholars ask for next, whether that’s ALS (Alternative Learning) support for those who never finished high school, or formal peer-mentoring for the newest cohort.
- Investing in the idea that the people who sustain the nation’s economy from abroad deserve more than gratitude.
Sources :
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. (2026, February 16). OFW cash remittances hit record $35.63 billion in 2025. Retrieved from Philippine News Agency: https://www.bsp.gov.ph/SitePages/MediaAndResearch/MediaDisp.aspx?ItemId=7800&MT