From Costco to College Grad: How Xian Lim Finished What He Started
Learner Spotlight · De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde
Xian Lim
Before he became a familiar face in Philippine entertainment, Xian Lim was a 15-year-old kid in a restaurant uniform, heading straight from school to his shift, eager to earn his first paycheck. It was the kind of hustle most people admire in hindsight, but for Xian, it was simply survival mode.
Not long after that first restaurant job, he spent about a year working at Costco, juggling shifts and studies in the quiet, unglamorous way that many immigrant-family kids know well. He was just trying to make ends meet. Then, an unexpected opportunity arrived from a different corner of the world entirely: the Philippine entertainment industry came calling.
He took the leap. And for the next 15 years, he gave that leap everything he had.
The Gap Nobody Saw
On screen, Xian Lim looked like someone who had it all figured out. But offscreen, he carried something heavy — a quiet, nagging insecurity that no amount of fame or recognition seemed to fill. He had never finished his college degree.
His education had taken a back seat when the acting opportunities started rolling in, and eventually, he made the practical decision to put his studies on hold entirely. It made sense at the time. It made sense for a long time after that, too. But somewhere underneath the grind of auditions, taping schedules, and public appearances, the thought of that unfinished chapter never quite went away.
“There was a quiet insecurity I carried about not finishing school, about not having a degree,” he shared. “It was a gap I couldn’t ignore.”
Afraid, But Ready
Going back to school was not a romantic, movie-style decision. It was terrifying.
Xian admitted to feeling doubt, shyness, and even embarrassment at the thought of returning as an adult learner. The fear that shadowed him most was not the coursework or the schedule. It was the fear of failing. Of trying and coming up short after all that time.
But he enrolled anyway.
Through the Expanded Tertiary Education Equivalency and Accreditation Program (ETEEAP), he found a pathway designed for people exactly like him — working professionals whose years of real-world experience deserve to be recognized alongside formal academic credentials. ETEEAP, mandated through Executive Order 330 signed in 1996, was built on a simple but powerful idea: that learning does not only happen inside a classroom.
His 15 years in front of the camera, studying music, collaborating with producers, performing, and pouring himself into the craft, counted for something. ETEEAP made sure of it.
The Moment That Changed Everything
Xian Lim graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Music Production from De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde.
The boy who once rushed from high school hallways to a restaurant kitchen, who spent a year in the warehouse aisles of Costco dreaming of something more, who took a wild chance on an entertainment career halfway across the world, and who quietly doubted himself for over a decade — he crossed a graduation stage and received a college diploma.
“I’m still in the clouds,” he expressed. “I can’t believe I’m graduating.”
He was grateful to be part of the ETEEAP program, and then he said the words he had waited a very long time to say: with pride.
What His Story Says About You
Xian Lim’s journey is remarkable because it is also remarkably familiar. Millions of Filipino workers have spent years building expertise in their industries without ever holding a degree to show for it. Chefs, musicians, designers, technicians, entrepreneurs, caregivers — people who know their craft inside and out, but carry the same quiet gap that Xian carried for so long.
ETEEAP exists to close that gap. It recognizes the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values that working adults have earned through years of lived experience. It opens doors without asking people to abandon the lives they have already built.
If Xian Lim, at his stage in life and career, was afraid to go back to school and went anyway, that says something worth sitting with.
It is not too late. It was never too late.
Interested in finding out if ETEEAP is the right path for you? Check out the ETEEAP Programs for a list of deputized higher education institutions and application requirements.
Credits to: https://www.instagram.com/xianlimm
Photos by: https://www.instagram.com/xianlimm