IAN ALLEN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Hundreds of students camped outside the offices of the Students' Loan Bureau (SLB) offices on Old Hope Road yesterday, hoping to make the deadline for the receipt of loan application forms. Some of the applicants were at the SLB offices from as early as 4:30 p.m. on Thursday afternoon.
Glenroy Sinclair
and Tyrone Reid
, Staff Reporters
Cold ground was Claudine Hamilton's bed on Thursday night. The aspiring University of the West Indies student travelled from her home in Old Harbour, St. Catherine, to sleep on the steps of the Students' Loan Bureau's offices to enhance her chance of getting an early number to be processed for a loan.
She was not alone. Hundreds of students, armed with pillows and blankets, transformed the cold concrete steps leading to the bureau's offices into a giant dormitory. There was no ambiguity the in
students' intention they were
desperately in need of what the SLB had to offer.
Their desperation turned into a mini nightmare yesterday morning when heightened tension led to skirmishes between applicants.
"It was like a stampede. Some of us who slept over were pushed out of the line by persons who came late yesterday morning. Because of this, some of us did not get any of the 300 numbers that were issued," said Ms. Hamilton, who is aspiring to be a registered nurse.
Deadline not extended
Up to yesterday evening, SLB spokesperson, Natalie Gollab, said the deadline was not extended; yesterday was the last day. At 12:30 p.m. Sean Brown, a staff member at the SLB, said they were processing persons with numbers up to C-61.
Some of those who were processed claimed they were not successful; a number of them had problems with their Tax Registration Number (TRN). Although hopeless, scores of others just sat in the passage way at the SLB office. At least one youngster who over-nighted was seen asleep.
Another youngman, Oneil Sicard, who is pursuing a course in Architectural Structure at the University of Technology (UTech), expressed signs of hopelessness. He had been camping out at the location since 10 :00 p.m. on Thursday.
The bureau was expecting about 7,500 applicants for the application period of January 14 to April 29, but only about 5,400 applications had been received so far.
The SLB has the capacity to process 14, 800 applications annually or just about 200 submissions each day.
Prime Minister P.J. Patterson announced last week, during his Budget Debate presentation in the House of Representatives, that interest rate on new SLB loans would decrease from 16 per cent to 12 per cent per annum.
