THE EDITOR, Sir:
IT IS almost time for tertiary institutions to reopen for the new academic year and the services of the Student Loan Bureau (SLB) are now in heavy demand. I generally support the work of Lenice Barnett and her team at the SLB as they seek to ensure that this vital institution of nation building remains viable.
I have a concern, however, that has troubled me both as a beneficiary of the bureau as well as someone interested in national development. My concern is that, after speaking with some of my fellow debtors and recent graduates, most were simply unprepared for the high level of their indebtedness to the SLB upon graduation. This is why, rather than simply writing to the bureau, I decided to address my concerns to the general public by way of a personal illustration with the hope that it will inform the decisions of both the SLB and its current and future clients.
I borrowed from the SLB on three occasions to cover two years at the UWI and one year at Norman Manley Law School. My total indebtedness to the SLB now stands at just under $700,000. Starting in January 2006, I will be required to repay almost $19,000 per month PLUS an insurance payment of over $60,000 which I can either pay in one instalment or over six months.
Having just graduated and hence not having much in the way of accumulated savings I will, of course, have to utilise the latter option. The result of this arrangement will be that for the first six months, my student loan repayment will be over $30,000 per month. Most entry level positions in my chosen field offer starting salaries of between $50,000 and $75,000, and please note that this is one of the more lucrative fields for tertiary level graduates. This high repayment figure leaves very little in the way of disposable income for a comfortable existence, as decent apartments in Kingston rent for upwards of $25,000 and utility and transportation costs are heading north rapidly.
SALARIED SLAVES
The high repayment figure also has direct implications for an accelerated brain drain, as SLB-indebted tertiary graduates, who are now little more than salaried slaves, seek employment opportunities outside the country in order to afford a decent standard of living. This exodus of graduates is coming at a time when the country needs the collective intellect of its best and brightest to tackle its seemingly intractable development issues, despite the increasing importance of short-term remittance payments from these graduates.
Also, any economist will tell you that handouts in the form of remittances are a very short-sighted way of developing a country as it is proven that with each succeeding generation of migrant descendants, the commitment to the home country declines and so does the level of remittances. Of course, migration is not an available option for all graduates and some will simply have to 'lay low' and try to dodge the negative publicity campaigns of the SLB.
We have to stop the insanity of the high indebtedness of our tertiary graduates as we are only stymieing our own national development, the very development the bureau was inaugurated to facilitate.
I am, etc.,
MAURICE TOMLINSON
Kingston 6
