During the SWS Address on National Working Students Day 2026, the screen behind the stage was full of data from the State of the Working Student 2026 Report. Then four MMDC students walked up to the microphone. And the numbers became people. What they shared didn’t just illustrate the report. It made it impossible to look away.

Mikaede Conway: Breadwinner. Aspiring marketer. Carrying more than a course load.

Mikaede Conway’s path to a degree at MMDC isn’t just about a career. It is an act of generational healing.

“I am carrying the dream of the women in my family. From my Lola who hoped to be a lawyer, my mom who aspired to be a journalist, and now I’m stepping up as a future marketer.”

As a breadwinner navigating life with ADHD, Mikaede’s days don’t just run long, they run at a different frequency entirely. Some days, showing up is itself an achievement. But she keeps showing up. For herself. For the women who couldn’t.

Mikaede’s story sits within a wider pattern: 55.5% of SWS respondents began working before they even enrolled in college. For many, dual life didn’t start as a choice– it was already the condition they walked into higher education with.

Mariah Angela Alvarez: Survivor. Proof that it is never too late to start again.

In 2021, Mariah Angela Alvarez lost both of her parents. What followed wasn’t just grief, it was survival. And with it came the decision to drop out of school.

“I had to drop out,” she says simply. “I needed to survive.”

Years later, she found her way back to MMDC. But not without one more moment of doubt.

“At the end of my first semester, I messaged student services telling them that I cannot do this, it is not working anymore. However, they said that I should give this another shot… and I know to myself that I need to finish what I started.”

She gave it that shot. She is still here.

Mariah represents the 45.2% of working students in the SWS Report who have seriously considered quitting school. She also represents what happens when an institution shows up at the right moment,  not with judgment, but with one simple message: try again.

Ada Gabrielle Silva: Single mother. 4th-year BSIT Data Analytics student. Eight years in.

For Ada, the “why” isn’t abstract. It sits at the kitchen table every morning.

“I’ve been a working student for around eight years. I am a working student because I want to support my children as a single mom while continuously improving myself and building a better future through education and career growth.”

Now in her final year of BSIT Data Analytics at MMDC, Ada has found a rhythm. Not because the conditions became easier, but because she found an institution that finally built its model around her life. Every exam she passes is a lesson she’s teaching her children about what it looks like to keep going.

Ada reflects a finding the SWS Report frames as the “triple burden”: 77.4% of working students financially support others, and 41.3% carry active caregiving responsibilities. Their academic journey is embedded in a household that depends on them.

Adam Raymond Belda: IT Director. BSIT Software Development student. To him, growth is a nonstop commitment.

Adam Belda doesn’t fit the image most people have of a “working student.” He has 15 years of experience in IT. He holds a director title. By any conventional measure, he could be done.

He isn’t. So, he enrolled in BSIT Software Development at MMDC, and took out a student loan to do it.

“I’m thankful to MMDC for offering different types of payment. Even as an IT Director, I avail of a student loan — because that’s how you wisely budget your money.”

Adam’s story dismantles the assumption that working students are only those who are just starting out. Sometimes the most committed person in the room is the one who already knows exactly how much further they want to go.

Adam represents a growing share of the working student population: 47.1% of SWS respondents are 28 years old or older– adult learners who returned to or continued formal education mid-career.

Together, Mika, Mariah, Ada, and Adam are the heartbeat of the SWS 2026 Report. The faces behind the data. They prove, beyond any statistic, that when you build an institution around the realities of a working student’s life, you don’t just produce graduates. You empower entire families, communities, and futures.

Download the full 2026 State of the Working Student Report– the first annual study of its kind in the Philippines, built from the real experiences of 155 working students– here.

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