Non-payment of UG students' loan should be court matter - Alexander

Non-payment of UG students’ loan should be court matter – Alexander

Sep 17, 2015 News

“It is a contract and the recourse is to the court if people don’t pay,” said Mr. Vincent Alexander of the failure of some students to repay loans secured through the Ministry of Finance’s Student Loan Agency. The Loan Agency is accommodated at the University of Guyana (UG) Turkeyen campus.
Alexander, who is currently a member of the University Council representing the coalesced A Partnership for National Unity and the Alliance for Change Government, also holds the position of Technical Advisor to the Minister of Education.
During an interview he sought to give clarity to the operation of the Student Loan Agency. This is in light of his perception that there has been a lot of misconception regarding the Loan Agency. “Let’s get this very, very clear, there has been a lot of misunderstanding on that matter; tremendous misunderstanding. The revolving fund is not a fund in the University of Guyana; it is a fund in the Ministry of Finance.”
The Loan Agency was established in 1994 to facilitate a Revolving Fund to be accessed by UG students who agreed by way of contract to repay the sum borrowed within a specified period.
But over the years there have been many defaulters among those who were able to secure loans through the Loan Agency to facilitate their studies at UG. While some students have not been repaying in a timely manner, there are others who have not been repaying at all, despite being gainfully employed.
It was believed that this state of affairs has been impacting the operation of the Loan Agency thus, forcing Government to budget funds annually to sustain its existence.
But recently Finance Minister, Mr. Winston Jordan, announced that there has been an improvement in the level of repayment of students. This has therefore allowed for the Loan Agency to be self sufficient. The sum repaid, based on the disclosure of the Finance Minister, will ensure that Government isn’t forced to plug monies into the Loan Agency’s operation at least for the next three years.
“If during that period of two to three years they (students) continue to work on repayment, the fund could become continuously revolving with no need for inputs because that fund has had about $17 billion from 1994 to now plugged into it. It only requires about $500 million a year to give loans,” Alexander stressed.
He concluded that if keen efforts are made to collect the outstanding loans there isn’t likely to be any problem with the fund. But according to him, “collecting the Fund is not a University matter; it is a Government matter.” He is of the firm opinion that in addition to legal recourse the outstanding loan sums could be retrieved by other measures, including the blacklisting of defaulters.
“What may be required is to reconsider the way in which we handle that (loan) contract…For example ‘do you allow the contract to allow for non-departure from the country if you are in debt?’
Those are possibilities you can look at if you want to enhance the repayment,” said Alexander.

2 thoughts on “Non-payment of UG students’ loan should be court matter – Alexander”

abl soft May 2, 2016 at 1:33 pm

I agree that it will be the government work to collect it .Also implement some various rules and regulation in paying it.
abl soft May 21, 2016 at 10:04 am

Indeed that all the debts must be payed. It should be paid with the right amount and the interest rates which should be the same as the said period of time. But in case there are certainties that the debtor is not capable of paying as agreed, a due process should be run in the right time at the court.