Abstract
The lived experiences of the freshmen students be continue to ignored and not been heard by most institutions in the Philippines. This problem motivated the researcher to conduct the study to give a voice to those freshmen students who experience the phenomenon in their fresh start in college. This study utilized the Ryan & Deci’s Self-determination theory. Further, Heideggerian phenomenological design, and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis popularized by Moustakas modified by Van Kaam with a 7-step analysis. To avoid researchers' bias, the researchers conducted bracketing and used purposive sampling technique before collecting the data. Utilizing a semi-structured instrument, the gather was done via online interviews with ten (10) participants from the Moalboal Campus of Cebu Technological University during the academic year 2021-2022. Based from the data analysis, themes that follows are derived: (1) Exciting Experiences, (2) Downside, (3) Support System, and (4) Adaptation. It is recommended that freshmen should undergo saturation through series of webinars or google meet ups to critically meet the desired information regarding the growing phenomenology around freshmen students.
