President Donald Ramotar on Friday said government will resolve the UG student loans question by or before the commencement of the 2014/2015 academic year.
On Wednesday, Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh had said that Cabinet is yet to make a decision on whether government will provide sufficient loans to absorb the increased tuition and facilities fees students are now required to pay. The matter, he said, continues to attract the attention of Cabinet.
Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the University of Guyana (UG) Jacob Opadeyi on Monday said that the university could shut down by the second week of the first semester if enough students are not able to source loans to pay their tuition and other fees. Elaborating, he said the university would comb through its programmes to identify and possibly discontinue programmes that do not have the required number of subscribers. UG’s Art and History programmes are not usually heavily subscribed to and therefore fall into this bracket.
Ramotar however, said at a press conference at the Office of the President that government will not allow the students of the university to suffer. Noting that just a few more weeks remain before classes at UG commence on August 25th , he said government will act to resolve the matter ahead of this date. He failed to say though how exactly the matter will be resolved.
Government’s commitment to the students of UG, he said, was demonstrated by its restoration of the amounts initially allocated for the Student Loan Fund – $450 million. Only $225 million of this amount has been restored though, and in a manner that has landed the Finance Minister in hot water with the Alliance for Change (AFC) and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU).
Earlier this year, Singh laid Financial Paper 1 of 2014 in the National Assembly which showed that he spent over $4 billion from the Consolidated Fund without parliamentary approval and, the opposition parties say, in a manner which contravenes Guyana’s constitution as well as the Fiscal Management and Accountability (FMA) Act. Singh has also been referred to the Privileges Committee of the National Assembly and reported to the Guyana Police Force as a result of his actions. On Wednesday though, he said that government has not, and will not renege on its obligations to provide the annual loan towards the Student Loan Fund. He did not say however, when the ministry plans to pay over the final $225 million.
What he did say what that the annual amounts for the Student Loan Fund are always paid in two installments and that the second installment is not usually paid before the commencement of the new academic year. This, he said, has not and should not interfere with UG’s scheduled opening.
Opadeyi’s threat of a shutdown at UG, he therefore stated, was unwarranted as the university functioned just fine last year on the old fee structure.
On July 22nd UG, by way of a press release, informed the public that new Guyanese students will be required to pay $210,000 per year in tuition fees from the coming semester as opposed to the $127,000 previously paid. The $210,000 which would roughly equate to US$1,000 also includes a $50,000 facilities fee. Meanwhile, “continuing Guyanese
students will pay an incremented increase beginning with $130,000 in 2014, $145,000 in 2015 and $160,000 in 2015.” In addition, they will have to pay the facilities fee of $50,000
Though the adjustment will affect most students there are many programmes which will see tuition fees remain the same. These are the: Bachelor of Medicine; Bachelor of Surgery; Bachelor of Science Degree in Optometry; Bachelor of Science Degree in Medical Imaging; Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing; Bachelor of Science Degree in Pharmacy; Bachelor of Science Degree in Rehabilitation Sciences; Bachelor of Science Dental Surgery; Masters of Science in Environmental Management; Post Graduate Diploma in Environmental Management- Climate Change Disaster Management and Natural Resource Management; Bachelor of Law, Commonwealth Master of Business Administration; Commonwealth Masters of Public Administration; Masters in Education; Bachelor of Arts Degree in Tourism Studies and the Associate Degree in Tourism Studies.
The above-mentioned programmes will, however, attract the $50,000 facilities fee. Foreign students attending UG will also not see their tuition fees increased, but they too will be required to pay a facilities fee of US$250.
UG administrators say “the fee adjustment has become necessary due to the rising cost of providing quality education not only in Guyana but worldwide. Additionally, inflation has negatively affected the allocation to the University from the government, making the current tuition fees paid by students unsustainable and unrealistic.”
