UG Student loans can now be repaid with GTT Mobile Money

Jun 06, 2017 News

…as 20,301 loans remain delinquent

By Murtland Haley
Past and present loan students of the University of Guyana will now have the option of repaying their loans using the Mobile Money service offered by the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT).

Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan and GTT’s CEO, Justin Nedd shows off the partnership agreement.

Persons who cannot afford to pay the tuition fees for the programme of study at the University are offered loans from the Ministry of Finance through the Student Loan Agency. The partnership between the Ministry and GTT was formalised yesterday at a ceremony held at the loan agency’s office on the Turkeyen Campus.
Representing the telecommunications giant was its Chief Executive Officer, Justin Nedd. He said that the Mobile Money Guyana (MMG) service is a payment platform that allows persons to do business without physical cash.
The MMG service is commonly known for giving GTT customers the opportunity of paying their utility and hire purchase bills. It even allows persons to top up their own GTT pre-paid accounts as well as sell credit to others while receiving a commission.
He said that the MMG service began in 2013 and is currently in line with President David Granger’s call to serve outlying communities in terms of facilitating money transfer.
According to Nedd, for those wishing to repay their loans and pay tuition fees using the service, all they will have to do is to input their Student Registration Number or the Unique Student Identifier (USI) and indicate the amount they wish to pay.
He said that payment would then be made to the Student Loan Agency. The MMG Application (App) is available on the Google Play Store. Nedd said that globally, there are about half a billion Mobile Money accounts and that 30,000 transactions are made per minute. He said that Guyana is barely scratching the surface of the extent to which the service can be used to improve lives.
Representing the Finance Ministry at the ceremony were Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, Junior Minister of Finance, Jaipaul Sharma, and Finance Secretary, Hector Butts.

A screenshot taken from the MMG App that can be used to repay UG Student Loans.

According to Jordan, this initiative is yet another in a series of interventions that the Ministry of Finance will be undertaking to improve the ease with which students can repay their loans.
He said that the Student Loan Agency represents taxpayer’s money that is being used by the government to invest in the education of its students at the University of Guyana.
“As a result of those loans we have seen our children, wives, husbands, aunts, cousins, parents, neighbours and friends become teachers, lawyers, doctors, engineers, managers, owners of businesses, politicians, diplomats and the list goes on.”
He said that the investment made by government on the backs of taxpayers has only partially been repaid. “Partially because it is no secret that since the setting up of the student loan agency as a Department of the Ministry of Finance, around 1994 nearly $10B has been disbursed to past and present students of the University of Guyana. It is also no secret that of the 28,936 loans issued so far, a substantial number (20,301) are delinquent.”
Jordan described this state of affairs as an uncomfortable truth which cannot be ignored; for to do so, would be to callously impair the future education of Guyana’s sons and daughters.
He recalled that last year, as part of the Jubilee Independence celebration, Government had offered substantial rebates to graduates, both at home and abroad, giving them an opportunity to clear or update their indebtedness.
According to Jordan, some graduates took advantage of the offer but unfortunately, the majority did not. “Their excuses were many; they expressed they would like to repay but lamented the absence of more advanced payment options than were available.”
He said that the partnership with GTT is another milestone for the loan agency. The Minister assured that the option is fast and secure requiring only a GTT handset and a MMG account. He said that it is expected that a greater number of persons will take advantage of the service.
The MMG App can be used anywhere in Guyana and the rest of the world once the user has a GTT mobile phone. For every transaction done, GTT will receive $100.
In 2016, a forensic audit into UG’s Student Loan Agency had revealed that from 1994 to May 2015, a total 17, 567 of 25,335 student loans were deemed delinquent because students were not honouring their indebtedness. Five students had their loans written off while 1,278 or five per cent were paying.

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News