GATE POLICE

“We’ll be appointing investigating officers in instances where we perceive students have not been truthful in their declarations,” he said. Students caught trying to cheat the means-test for assessing their true entitlement to a GATE grant, could find themselves fully debarred from the subsidy now and in the future, Garcia warned.

“I want to ask all students to ensure that the information they submit as a result of the means testing, is accurate, so that sanctions or withdrawals will not have to be applied. Over and over we have been asked what we can put in place to ensure integrity of the process, I am appealing to students to ensure that integrity is maintained so we will not have to send investigating officers to your homes or workplace to verify accuracy of the information.

“You could run the risk of having funding debarred or future access to GATE denied and we don’t want that.” Garcia said while Government is committed to everyone accessing tertiary education, the country no longer enjoys its former economic largesse when oil and gas prices were high.

He said new measures aim to save about $100 million per year out of the usual GATE annual cost of $600 million. The income- based means test will ensure persons truly in need of state assistance will get the maximum benefit available, he said. Saying people are confused by misinformation over GATE, Garcia spelt out the entitlements.

Students with a household monthly income of under $10,000, can get 100 percent GATE funding.

For those between $10,000 to $30,000 income, the GATE funding is 75 percent. Students whose households earn over $30,000 will get 50 percent funding. “Cabinet has decided that wherever a person’s household income falls, that person will still be eligible for some measure of GATE funding.” Garcia said students will be funded only for one undergraduate and one postgraduate degree.

“So the programme hopping we saw in the past will be no more.” He said that for post-graduate students, GATE funding will be accessible only to students whose programmes are aligned with the country’s development needs and which are approved by the Accreditation Council (ACTT).

Asked if the ministry has a list of the aligned courses, Garcia deferred to Teresa Davidson, head of the ministry’s Unit for Grants and Funding, who said the list is being compiled by the Ministries of Planning, Labour and Finance.

For the upcoming academic year, this aligned list will not be applied, Davidson said.

Garcia said new students over age 50, won’t be able to access GATE, but continuing students who reach age 50 will get funding to complete their programme. He said his ministry’s website contains details of the means testing.

Davidson pointed out that the means test only deals with income, unlike a previous eightpage means test used in 2004 to 2006, which included questions on family assets. Garcia said that even with means-testing, students fees will be modest.

He said that for a student to pay 25 percent of the $12,000 annual fees of the Faculty of Social Studies, would work out at just $250 per month. Minister in the Ministry of Education, Dr Lovell Francis, said the GATE debate covers just a 20 percent portion of the university fees, with the State paying the rest. “So you are being asked to pay a fraction of a fraction,” Francis said.

Also at the briefing yesterday, ACTT executive director Michael Bradshaw said the tertiary student population is estimated at 56,316, enrolled in 1,697 programmes approved the council at 12 accredited institutions, led by the University of the West Indies. Inclusive of non accredited bodies, the student population is 67,500, he added.