Joseph Cunningham, Gleaner Writer
Graduates at the University of the West Indies' Mona campus. Most students there will have to pay an 8.2 per cent increase in tuition for the new academic year, which starts in September.
SOME STUDENTS at the University of the West Indies' Mona campus are distressed at the 8.2 per cent increase in tuition fees which come into effect at the start of the new academic year in September.
The UWI Council announced the increase in mid-April. It will affect students in the faculties of Humanities and Education, Social Sciences, Pure and Applied Sciences and the Department of Advanced Nursing.
Rickmel Marsham is a full-time student in the Social Sciences. He told The Gleaner recently that since the announcement of the new fees, finding alternative funding is high on his agenda.
FIND A JOB AND STUDY PART-TIME
"I might have to find myself a job and study part-time in order to cope with the new financial demands of the hiked fees," he said. He added that he boards at the Mona campus because he is from St. Thomas; Rickmel is fearful that he will not be able to meet the demands of his course.
Currently, students in the faculty of Social Sciences pay $123,156. Come September, they will have to shell out $133,341, an increase of over $10,000.
It will be the same for students in Humanities and Education, Pure and Applied Sciences and the Department of Advanced Nursing. New law students will be required to pay $145,103, up from the current $134,020.
Returning pre-clinical medical students will also feel the pinch; their new rate is $226,081 while clinical students will pay $430,724.
ONLY MONA AFFECTED
Of the three UWI campuses in the Caribbean (the others being Cave Hill in Barbados and St. Augustine in Trinidad and Tobago) Mona is the only one which will be affected by the hike in fees.
The Gleaner spoke to other students including 20-year-old Dwight Johnson of Pure and Applied Sciences. He said his father is his only financial support; Johnson senior provides funding for his sister who is also a tertiary level student.
In Dwight's opinion the increase was unavoidable, but he too sees rough days ahead.
Yesterday, Joseph Pereira, deputy principal at the UWI declined to speak with The Gleaner about the new fees.
In July 2004, over 100 students led by then Guild president Damion Crawford, demonstrated against what they said was the school's failure to inform them of deadlines for payment of fees for the first semester of the 2004-2005 academic year.
