A POST-GRADUATE student loan programme has been established by First Global Bank, using the services of the Students' Loan Bureau.
The programme is the first of its kind in Jamaica, said Andral Shirley, managing director of First Global Bank. He was speaking at the launch of the programme at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona campus yesterday.
"Nothing else increases the possibilities for personal advancement, career growth and satisfaction as education can," said Mr. Shirley. But the country's formal student lending programme had previously been limited to first degrees.
"The Students' Loan Bureau with its limited resources had been trying to assist the neediest of the needy," said chairman of the Students Loan Bureau (SLB), Robert Gregory. "As for graduate study, we were just not in a position to do anything about that."
Jamaica has passed the stage where a first degree was sufficient preparation for the working world, said UWI vice chancellor Rex Nettleford. "Graduate work is critical to the preparation of a cadre of people we need to run this country and we have to facilitate that."
It is against that background that First Global decided to "take a lead role" in establishing the post-graduate loan fund, Mr. Shirley said.
The loans are applicable to Northern Caribbean University, University of Technology, UWI, University of New Orleans and Florida International University, said SLB executive director Lenice Barnett. "We will be looking at others."
At least 2,500 applications are expected with most from the UWI, Mrs. Barnett said. "There is a lot of enthusiasm, although we have received only 20 applications so far."
The SLB will be processing applicants while First Global will be providing funding, Minister of Finance and Planning Dr. Omar Davies said. This arrangement represents a reversal of tradition, he said.
The decision to lend money to people in tertiary education shows "good business sense," Dr. Davies said. They are creating a client base among the people who are Jamaica's future leaders.
First Global is a relatively small financial institution launched in January of this year, Mr. Shirley said. "Rather than compete head-on, we have chosen to create alliances with both financial and non-financial institutions, to add to our array of products and services."
To improve the attractiveness of the loan programme, links have been formed with Cable & Wireless as well as Jamaica National Building Society to provide added benefits to borrowers, Mr. Shirley said.
