THERE IS still a strong, persistent feeling of entitlement to 'free' education, a hangover from the governmental policies of the 1970s. But the ground has shifted. With budgetary cuts to the University of the West Indies (UWI) and other tertiary institutions, these institutions either have to collect the fees owed or compromise their capacity to deliver quality educational services.
So with a new payment policy, which was brought on-stream last academic year in the face of strong student protests, requiring full payment of first semester fees by the last working day in September and full payment of second semester fee by the last working day in January, the UWI has been forced to act. This week over 500 students were deregistered for unpaid fees. This follows an extension from the September 30 deadline after various interventions by student leadership and others.
And despite good intentions and even formal agreement with the Opposition, the Government has been unable to expand the education budget.
But even at a fraction of the total cost of their education, tertiary students are faced with substantial fees which few families can find out of pocket. This is where the role of the Students' Loan Bureau (SLB) comes in for critical scrutiny. The SLB was set up as a statutory body under the Students' Loan Fund Act of 1971 to provide loans to Jamaicans pursuing higher education programmes at home or abroad.
While the SLB is boasting that over 80 per cent of applicants obtain loans, the truth is that many of these applicants do not obtain the full amount applied for to meet their fee obligations. The executive director, Lenice Barnett, herself is admitting that non-university borrowers had been allowed a maximum of $35,000 when their tuition fees, not counting other expenses, could be as high as $100,000.
The plan to accommodate even more borrowers and to lend the full cost of tuition, at interest rates down from 16 to 12 per cent has major implications for the capitalisation of the SLB. The bureau has never been able to satisfy student loan demand nor to collect outstanding loans at levels necessary for continued viability.
Eligibility criteria have been onerous and many persons have complained of unfair exclusion from access to SLB financing. The SLB, which has been making commendable efforts to collect from delinquent borrowers, must become adequately capitalised with a genuine revolving loan fund where the only eligibility criteria for access would be registration for an approved tertiary level course and sound guarantees of repayment.
At the same time, students who are the beneficiaries of the highest level of education must act more responsibly in organising the financing of their education and certainly in applying to the SLB well in advance of the annual deadline rush in April with its attendant horror stories.
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