By Ashford W. Meikle, Staff ReporterTHE Financial Gleaner understands that the Students Loan Bureau (SLB) has reportedly paid almost $30 million to acquire a property on the eastern fringe of New Kingston which it has earmarked as its future head office.
"Our [present] location is too small... Mrs. Barnett wants a modern two-storey building to house our operations," said a Financial Gleaner contact. The SLB headed by executive director Lenice Barnett has occupied rented space at the northern tower of the Mutual Life Building on Oxford and Old Hope roads since 1998. Occupying an entire floor, a real estate industry source indicated that they could be paying rental of approximately $250,000 monthly.
ACQUIRED PROPERTY
The acquired property is located nearby the bureau's offices, at 43 Old Hope Road, at its intersection with Kensington Crescent. The car dealership, Beverley Hills Car Sales, is located on the property. It is not clear if the SLB has leased the premises to the auto dealers.
According to information gathered by the Financial Gleaner, the bureau's management decided to acquire its own premises because of the rising rental costs in the New Kingston area and the view that it has outgrown its present location. Moreover, continued the Financial Gleaner contact, the bureau is intent on building its own staff training facilities. The latter is in keeping with its desire to present a softer image of the institution.
Over the past few years, the bureau has had to battle its share of public relations nightmares, including the perception that it is not customer-friendly. "We were about to publish photos of delinquent borrowers but held off because of the UWI incident," said the contact. Earlier this month the University of the West Indies 'deregistered' about five hundred students who did not pay their tuition fees; some of these students claim that they were not successful in their applications to the bureau.
And some critics, pointing to the 16 per cent interest rate charged on student loans, argue that the bureau operates more as a commercial bank than as a lending institution for needy students. One out of every five students is unsuccessful in his or her application to the bureau. In total the bureau grants loans to about five thousands students annually.
SURPLUS
The SLB has operated at a surplus for the past four years and the Financial Gleaner contact said that it decided to put the surplus to some use. Ironically, the SLB which says that it "is able to lend because of its revolving loan scheme" has had to fend off questions in the past about its vast cash reservoir. But the bureau says it will "remain true to its mandate of ensuring that no needy eligible Jamaican citizen is denied a tertiary education because of lack of financing."
The Financial Gleaner was unable to get a comment from Mrs. Barnett. Several calls and emails to her office were not returned and Finance Director Courtney Jackson did not respond to an email sent to him.
