.png)
The Students' Loan Bureau (SLB) is being called on to develop a COVID-19 relief fund for students facing financial crisis due to the pandemic.
Everton Rattray, President of the Jamaica Union of Tertiary Students, says there is concern for more than 40,000 students from tertiary institutions across the island, who have been severely affected by the crisis.
Mr. Rattray says, included in this number are 8,000 students who were unable to take part in work and travel programmes this year.
According to Mr. Rattray, the students would have used the funds earned to pay their tuition and other fees for the upcoming semester. But with this no longer an option and some parents having lost their jobs due to the pandemic, the students are at their wit's end.
"If you're looking at 40,000 people then you're looking at probably the average person about $300,000 being their tuition per year, it means that fund needs at least $12 billion to assist those 40,000 students and that is urgently needed," he contended.
Mr. Rattray also recommended that the government regulate the work and travel programme to notify students "in terms of what agencies are certified and also as a means of controlling the refund policies."
He said students are currently having great difficulty in securing refunds for work and travel programmes "because the policies that are set out by these various agencies stipulates that there is no refund."
Mr. Rattray was a guest on the RJRGLEANER Group virtual town hall meeting on Thursday.
Plans underway
In the meantime, Professor Dale Webber, Principal of the University of the West Indies, Mona, said he has been in discussions with the Students' Loan Bureau about practical solutions for borrowers.
Mr. Webber, who was also a guest at the virtual town hall, said based on the feedback, this is underway.
"They are working to try and make more funds available. They have a plan, in fact, to remove one of the guarantors so it becomes far easier, to make the repayments a lot easier over time," he said.
The UWI principal noted that about 23 per cent of the school's student population applied for a student loan.
comments powered by Disqus
.jpg)
.jpg)
All feeds
