Petrina Francis, Education ReporterTHE UNIVERSITY of the West Indies (UWI) yesterday deregistered 439 undergraduate students for non-payment of tuition fees. The deadline for payment of the fees was January 31.
Joseph Pereira, deputy principal of the university, told The Gleaner that 230 full-time and 209 part-time students were deregistered - a significant increase over last semester when more than 200 students were deregistered.
AUTOMATIC LEAVE OF ABSENCE
The deputy principal noted that some students who were given automatic leave of absence last semester for failure to pay fees, returned to school in January.
Mr. Pereira disclosed that only 30 students took the loan from the UWI credit union that was set up by the government.
He suspects that students did not apply for the loan because it was required that they had guarantors or collateral in order to qualify.
PROTEST
Last semester, more than 200 students were deregistered for non-payment tuition fees. This led to a protest by UWI students who padlocked the entrances to the Mona campus, which resulted in cancellation of classes.
Yesterday Damion Crawford, president of the guild of students at the university declined to comment, noting that he did not yet receive confirmation on the issue from the deputy principal.
As a result of the controversy between the students and the university administration last year, The Finance and General Purposes Committee approved a Fee Payment Policy for students last November.
Under this term, all tuition fees are now due at the end of September and January.
