Government to examine new UG student loan arrangement

GINA GUYANA, October 06, 2016

Minister of State, Joseph Harmon said that the Government will have to examine the additional requirements persons are being asked to provide when they stand as a guarantor for a University of Guyana Student Loan.

In an effort to retrieve the more than $8 billion owed to University of Guyana (UG), the Ministry of Finance has amended the system at the loan agency to increase the loan repayment rate.

Loan applicants are required to submit the traditional information such as Letter of Acceptance, Student Registration Invoice, Birth Certificate and proof of address, in addition to their Guyana Passport, Bank Standing Order and Job Letter.

Like the applicants, guarantors are mandated to provide the agency with evidence of employment, their passport, TIN Certificate and a Liability Statement and or Credit Reports from the Credit Bureau.

Students at UG have raised concerns regarding this change, noting that it is difficult to find a guarantor who is willing to provide the necessary documents.

“We will certainly have to look at that because, the important thing is, we want our young people in school,” Harmon said adding that, any irritant to that is something which the government would have to look at carefully.

The minister noted that when a person stands as a guarantor, if there is any default on the part of the students then the guarantor would be liable to pay the loan hence persons are reluctant to sign as guarantors.

The minister however reiterated that the loan agency will have to look at the issue very carefully just to ensure that it does not affect the education of the young people. At the same, he said that students must understand that if they borrow money it is their duty to pay it back.

 

By Synieka Thorne