The Editor, Sir:

Please permit me to air my views on the cost of tertiary education in Jamaica. It must be noted that many students who enter tertiary schools in Jamaica do so because they have ambition and want to achieve a goal, not because they are rich.

So, how can tertiary institutions, like The Mico University College, ask students to make a down payment of half the school fee if they are accessing funds through the Students' Loan Bureau (SLB)?

The tuition fee is $184,140 (residential) and students are asked to make a down payment of $98,790 if they are accessing funds through the SLB.

This is absurd, as if the parents had this amount of money, students would not have to take loans from the SLB.

This does not make any sense. Where are the parents going to get this money to pay by Friday, August 15?

I know that the SLB does not pay out the money until October to November and even so, it does not pay all of the money.

It pays out the money in two portions. The next portion, it pays next year.

Something needs to be done. My alternative is the SLB pays out the money at the start of the school year as parents cannot afford to pay half the fee (although the school refunds the down payment as soon as the SLB pays over the money).

We are not to allow our students to be dismayed when they are trying to access an education to make them more marketable in their own country.

I am, etc.,

STACIE

slimmas24@hotmail.com

St Mary

Via Go-Jamaica