TL;DR — Gordon College is Olongapo's city-run public college, not a private one, and it runs eighteen bachelor programmes across five colleges plus four masters. Entry is by the Gordon College Admission Test, which is a real selection exam, and applications for a given academic year close hard. No tuition schedule is published, which for a local public college is worth asking about directly rather than assuming either way.
Address and contacts are on the Gordon College profile, and the local field is on the Olongapo schools page.
First, a correction to our own record
Our directory lists Gordon College as a private school. It is not. The college states on its own site that it is "a public educational institution established in 1999", formerly Olongapo City Colleges, supervised by the City Government of Olongapo through City Ordinance No. 1, series of 2025, which superseded City Ordinance No. 7, series of 2018.
That makes it a local college — chartered and funded by a city government rather than by the national government or a private board. It is a meaningful distinction and we are fixing our record. It changes who governs the school, how it is funded, and, most importantly for applicants, which government tuition schemes it sits inside. Our private versus public school guide covers what the categories mean in practice.
The programme list
College of Allied Health Studies (CAHS)
- BS Nursing
- BS Midwifery
College of Business and Accountancy (CBA)
- BS Accountancy
- BS Business Administration, major in Financial Management
- BS Business Administration, major in Human Resource Management
- BS Business Administration, major in Marketing Management
- BS Customs Administration
College of Computer Studies (CCS)
- BS Computer Science
- BS Information Technology
- BS Entertainment and Multimedia Computing
College of Education, Arts, and Sciences (CEAS)
- BA Communication
- Bachelor of Early Childhood Education
- Bachelor of Culture and Arts Education
- Bachelor of Physical Education
- Bachelor of Elementary Education, general education
- Bachelor of Secondary Education, majors in English, Filipino, Mathematics, Social Studies and Science
- Teacher Certificate Program
College of Hospitality and Tourism Management (CHTM)
- BS Hospitality Management
- BS Tourism Management
Institute of Graduate Studies (IGS)
- Master of Arts in Nursing
- Master of Arts in Education
- Master in Business Management
- Master in Public Administration
Where each one leads
The licensed programmes are the core of the college, and Gordon's own announcement feed reflects that — it posts results for the nursing, midwifery, CPA and teacher licensure examinations, which tells you what the institution measures itself by.
Licensed: BS Nursing through the nurse licensure exam; BS Midwifery through the midwife licensure exam; BS Accountancy through the CPA exam; BS Customs Administration through the customs broker exam; and every teacher education route in CEAS through the Licensure Examination for Teachers.
Unlicensed: the three business administration majors, all three computing degrees, communication, hospitality and tourism. Those are portfolio and internship degrees, and what you build during the course matters more than the transcript at the end.
Three items deserve individual notes.
BS Customs Administration is unusually well placed here. Olongapo sits beside the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, which is a customs, logistics and international trade hub. Taking a customs degree next door to one of the country's main freeports means internship and first-job proximity that the same degree in an inland city cannot offer. That is a genuine structural advantage, not a brochure line.
BS Entertainment and Multimedia Computing is a real degree, not a rebranded IT programme. It sits between computer science and creative production — game development, animation, interactive media — and it is not offered at most colleges. If that is your field, it is worth the trip. Compare it against computer science and multimedia arts before choosing, because the three overlap and lead to different work.
Bachelor of Culture and Arts Education is genuinely rare. It is a teaching degree, so it ends in the LET, but it is aimed at arts and culture teaching rather than at a standard academic major.
Note too that Gordon's secondary education majors cover English, Filipino, Mathematics, Social Studies and Science — a wider spread than many private schools manage, which matters if you want to teach Filipino or Araling Panlipunan.
The Teacher Certificate Program is the route for someone who already holds a non-education degree and wants to qualify to teach, without taking a full second course.
Getting in
Gordon College publishes its freshman rules clearly.
Eligibility: high school graduates, or passers of a high school equivalency certificate through PEPT, who can demonstrate the ability to benefit from instruction.
The exam: the Gordon College Admission Test (GCAT). The college states that admission decisions rely on GCAT results together with previous high school or college academic records. That phrasing matters — this is selection, not placement, and both halves count.
Documents:
- Original high school report card, Form 138 or SF9, or an ALS certificate
- Certificate of good moral character
- Birth certificate copy
- Medical certificate from the Gordon College clinic — not from your own doctor
- Barangay residency certificate
- One 2x2 photograph
Two of those are worth planning for. The medical certificate has to come from the college's own clinic, which means a campus trip on the college's schedule. And the barangay residency certificate is the tell that this is a city institution: a local college exists to serve its city's residents, and residency is part of the file.
Applications close, and they close firmly. For Academic Year 2026-2027, Gordon College announced on 21 July 2026 that applications for admission and the GCAT were officially closed. There is no published rolling intake. Watch the announcements page from the start of the calendar year rather than checking in the summer.
Separate published routes exist for transferees and second coursers, for continuing students, returnees and cross-enrollees, and for graduate studies applicants through the Institute of Graduate Studies, each with its own page.
What it costs, and the honest answer
Gordon College publishes no tuition schedule. We searched its site for tuition and for free tuition and found no rate table, no range and no assessment document.
What the college does publish is aid. It announced Tertiary Education Subsidy applications for AY 2026-2027 under the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act, RA 10931, stating that eligible applicants must be Filipino citizens enrolled at Gordon College as a participating institution with a CHED-UniFAST agreement, with priority for DSWD Listahanan households, 4Ps beneficiaries, dependents of solo parents, indigenous peoples and persons with disabilities. Current Tulong Dunong or TES beneficiaries could not apply, and the application period ran to 29 July 2026. The college has also advertised a DOH midwifery scholarship grant.
So: Gordon College is inside the RA 10931 system as a participating institution, and it does not publish what a student without a subsidy pays. Those two facts together are why you should ask the admissions office directly what your out-of-pocket cost would be, rather than assuming free tuition covers everything or assuming it covers nothing. Our CHED free tuition guide explains what the law covers and what it does not, and our government student aid guide covers the subsidy routes.
Who Gordon College suits
An Olongapo or Zambales resident aiming at a licensed profession on a public-college budget. Nursing, midwifery, accountancy, customs administration and teaching are all here, all licensed, at an institution the city funds. That combination is not easy to find, and the residency certificate in the document list tells you the college is built for exactly this applicant.
Someone targeting customs, logistics or trade. The Subic proximity is a structural advantage, not a talking point.
Someone who wants games, animation or interactive media. Entertainment and multimedia computing is uncommon enough that the trip is worth considering even from outside the city.
Less of a match if you need flexibility on timing. The GCAT runs on the college's calendar, applications close and stay closed, and there is no published rolling intake. Miss the window and you wait a year. Plan around the announcements page rather than around your own schedule.
One open question
Our directory record flags Gordon College as offering senior high school. Its published academic programmes page lists only bachelor and master degrees, with no senior high strands. A memorandum of agreement between the City Government of Olongapo, the DepEd Schools Division Office of Olongapo and Gordon College appears in the college's news, which may relate to it. Until the college publishes a strand list, treat senior high at Gordon as unconfirmed and call (047) 222-4080 before planning a Grade 11 application around it.
Sources
- Gordon College, Academic Programs (full list by college and IGS) — https://gordoncollege.edu.ph/w3/academics/academic-programs/
- Gordon College, Freshmen Students admission (GCAT, eligibility, documents) — https://gordoncollege.edu.ph/w3/admission/freshmen-students/
- Gordon College, About and Charter (public institution, 1999, City Ordinance No. 1 s. 2025) — https://gordoncollege.edu.ph/w3/about-us/charter/
- Gordon College announcement, GCAT for A.Y. 2026-2027 now officially closed, 21 July 2026 — https://gordoncollege.edu.ph/w3/announcement/gcat-for-a-y-2026-2027-now-officially-closed/
- Gordon College announcement, Tertiary Education Subsidy for AY 2026-2027 — https://gordoncollege.edu.ph/w3/announcement/tertiary-education-subsidy-for-ay-2026-2027/
- Gordon College homepage and announcements feed — https://gordoncollege.edu.ph/w3/
