Imbert calls on UWI to review payment methods

Minister of Science, Technology and Tertiary Education, Colm Imbert, is requesting that the University of the West Indies at  St Augustine take necessary steps to give students the option to pay their portion of tuition expense over two semesters, rather than as a prerequisite for registration. The move has come in light of complaints that previous students were given the option to pay their fees over two semesters, while new students were being asked to pay their portion of tuition expense in full, at the start of the academic year.

In a release, Imbert highlighted that under the Government Assistance for Tuition Expenses (GATE) Programme, there was no requirement for students to pay the full 50 percent of their annual tuition expenses at the start of the academic year. Imbert believed the decision by the university was not consistent with Government’s policy of facilitating increased tertiary level education for all citizens of Trinidad and Tobago. All institutions approved for GATE have accordingly been requested to revert to the previous practice of allowing students to pay their portion of the fee on a per semester basis, until the ministry conducts a review on the matter.