Cabinet has decided that government will provide the Student Loan Agency will sufficient funds to cover the increased tuition fees announced last month, says the Ministry of Finance.
Students will, however, still be required to cover the $50,000 facilities fees.
Pursuant to this decision, the ministry has directed the Student Loan Agency to commence processing loan applications immediately for the coming academic year.
The ministry made the announcement yesterday and it follows a decision by Cabinet during deliberations on Tuesday. It also follows a promise by President Donald Ramotar during a press conference last Friday that the question of adequate student loans to cover the increased fees at the University of Guyana (UG) would be solved before the semester commences next week.
The ministry usually allocates $450 million to the Student Loan Fund to cover loans for tuition. In light of government’s decision this amount has to go up, but Singh could not be reached to say by how much. When and through what payment mechanism the money will be made available is also undetermined.
It should be noted that government has made an instalment of $225 million towards the traditional amount available. The remainder of the money is usually made available after the semester commences.
According to a statement from the ministry, Singh said Cabinet came to the decision after exhaustive examination of all the variables. He, however, indicated that while government will be footing the bill to cover increased fees, students are still required to pay the $50,000 facilities fee on their own.
Government’s decision, Singh is quoted as saying, is “a result of this Government’s commitment to ensure that no Guyanese student is denied access to University education because of affordability.”
The minister also took the opportunity to emphasize the need for the additional funds UG will garner through the increased fees to go toward making the changes necessary to “ensure better effectiveness in” the university’s operations. “The university needs to make a more concerted effort to streamline its operations to ensure value for money, more prudent management, and a sustained higher quality of teaching and research output,” Singh also said.
UG Vice Chancellor Jacob Opadeyi announced last Wednesday that the university could start closing programmes as early as the second week of the new academic year. Opadeyi had said it was uncertain if students would acquire the loans needed to cover the increased tuition fees and that the university would be unable to function effectively on the tuition paid by cash students. He had also signalled that the university could face closure if the funding was not made available.
Singh had called Opadeyi’s announcement reckless.
On July 22nd, UG, by way of a press release, informed the public that new Guyanese students would 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 the facilities fee.
