Government urges students to tap into Students’ Loan Bureau

KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) – With the Government having sourced additional funds to finance tertiary education for the academic year, students are being advised to immediately visit the offices of the Students’ Loan Bureau (SLB) to apply for loans.

Minister of Education Ronald Thwaites said the SLB has extended its loan application period.

“Students, who may have already matriculated, but have not made the satisfactory arrangements, may go to the Bureau, and they will be interviewed and considered for whatever loan they require,” Thwaites said at a scholarships and grants awards luncheon Wednesday (September 24), at the Courtleigh Hotel in New Kingston.

Through the additional funds, the bureau now has adequate funds to meet the demands of the 14,648 applicants at a projected cost of $4.6 billion.

“Earlier, it was announced that there was a shortfall of almost $1 billion at the SLB for financing tertiary education for needy students in this academic year and I am pleased to tell you that that the necessary funds have been sourced,” he said.

The education minister said the SLB has approved applications totalling $150 million in non-guaranteed loan.

He also informed that there is now a window for those “who simply can’t find a guarantor but whose dedication to their studies and other indices of reliability for repayment, warrant that they be given credit”.