Vice Chancellor threatens campus wide shut-down
– Finance Minister says comments are misplaced

VICE Chancellor of the University of Guyana (UG), Professor Jacob Opadeyi yesterday threatened a shut-down of the entire campus in the second week of the first semester if the Ministry of Finance does not address the issue of access to student loans.Opadeyi asserted his authority as “CEO” to enforce what he dubbed “plan B” for the university, adding that the institution will not remain open only for those students can afford to pay.
“The real issues that confront us today is the uncertainty about the access to the student loan for our students; up till this afternoon the student loan office is not able to make a statement whether student loans are

available for students or not, right now registration has started and this may impact on our ability to actually go into operation for this academic year,” he said
Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh told the Guyana Chronicle that Opadeyi’s comments are reflective of a “misplaced” tirade.
He said, “I have already stated publicly that the matter of increased tuition fees at UG and its implication for the student loan programme are engaging the attention of Cabinet.
“The Vice Chancellor’s latest tirade is grossly misdirected, knowing, as he must, that Cabinet is currently considering this matter. His energies would be much better spent asking the Opposition why they reduced the Government’s student loan budget to zero.”

BUDGET CUTS
A major challenge is the fact that the total allocation of $450M was chopped from the National Budget by the combined Opposition, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance for Change (AFC), in a parliamentary vote.
Since then, only half of the monies have been restored by the Finance Minister – a move that has seen him referred to the Parliamentary Privileges Committee.
The combined Opposition contends that spending authorised by Dr. Singh, including the $225M for the UG loan fund, were “unconstitutional” given that the monies restored were not approved by the combined Opposition.
Prior to the restoration of the sums, the Vice-Chancellor, in an interview, had noted that if the loan subvention for the University of Guyana is not restored by the National Assembly, then the students would be placed in a dire situation as a result of the severe crisis at the tertiary institution if the decision to cut the subvention was not reversed.
However, the two parties maintain that the allocation for UG was linked to other provisions to which they were opposed and, given the ruling by Acting Chief Justice Ian Chang that individual line items could not be cut from the Budget, the entire sum, which included the student loan monies, was removed.
The Government, in turn, has underscored the fact that the National Budget is presented in the same format it has been for several years now, and no allocations are linked, as is being claimed by the Opposition, but listed under the relevant section in the estimates as per normal.The student loan allocation was listed under the Ministry of Finance’s Policy and Administration capital budget.

ADDED CHALLENGES
The talk of a campus-wide shut-down has sparked new concerns for current and prospective students, providing an added challenge for them.
The University of Guyana’s Administrative Council in July unanimously voted for the current tuition fees to be increased for the 2014-2015 academic year, which starts in September. The adjusted fee applies to both new and continuing students who are pursing programmes.
Continuing Guyanese students will pay an incremented increase beginning with $130,000 in 2014, $145,000 in 2015 and $160,000 in 2016, in addition to the $50,000 Facilities Fee, which replaces the various miscellaneous fees, previously paid.
New local students are required to pay $210,000, inclusive of the Facilities Fee for most programmes, except for those listed above
While the fees for foreign students have not been adjusted, they will be required to pay the US$ 250 facilities fees instead of the various miscellaneous fees which were previously paid
The application of the new fees was determined following a series of consultations held with current students and other stakeholders in June 2014.
The increase in tuition for students of the UG will place an additional demand on the Government of Guyana’s UG Student Loan Fund and several students have expressed concern over whether they will be able to access the increased amounts.
A significant percentage of the UG students access financial support through the UG Loan Fund, which is a revolving fund that receives an annual injection from Government, from which disbursements are made, and are refinanced by repayments by students, as well as the continued annual support of Government.
Over the years, a vast majority of the student population at the country’s premier tertiary institution has benefited from such loans and a large percentage of prospective and current undergraduates depend on them.

(By Vanessa Narine )