Students in panic mode over ‘free’ education

HUNDREDS of students will be forced to pay tuition fees for tertiary education come January, if the Government does not finalise the details of  its promise of free tuition for tertiary education by next week. However, Tertiary Education Minister Mustapha Abdul-Hamid is assuring that everything will be in place for the new semester, which starts in mid-January. The promise of free tertiary tuition was made in the Budget presented by Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Patrick Manning in September. Free tertiary education was scheduled to come on stream in 2008, but because of the economic fortunes of the country, the PM said it was possible to introduce the measure earlier, starting January 2006. However, students are in panic mode as no directive on the measure has been forwarded to public tertiary institutions, which are all required to provide free tuition. Administrative staff at some of the institutions have alerted students to the possibility that they will be required to pay the fees, and when the Ministry of Science, Technology and Tertiary Education sends them the policy on the issue, students will be reimbursed.

In a letter to the Editor in Monday’s Newsday, an engineering student said the promise was all a “political gimmick” as he was informed by the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT), where he is enrolled, that his tuition fees must be paid. An official at the university’s Admissions Department confirmed this for Newsday yesterday. She said they were yet to receive a statement from the ministry advising them of the new policy, and they could not operate solely on a budget promise. She said registration at the UTT is based on a semester to semester basis, and the next period for registration will be from January 5 to 10. The costs to students range in the thousands, starting at $2,400 for certificate/diploma courses to $4,800 for first degrees, per semester. Those fees are final after the Government Assistance for Tuition Expenses (GATE) is applied. The UTT said GATE was not previously applicable for post-graduate studies, that is Masters degrees which they offer, and students who failed courses in the first instance were required to pay the full costs to repeat. The UTT official said they were yet to get clarification on whether post-graduate studies were covered by the new free tuition initiative and the policy on failures.

Abdul-Hamid had announced that the initiative would cover all tertiary tuition, as far as doctorates. At the College of Science, Technology and Applied Arts of Trinidad and Tobago (COSTAATT), an official told Newsday that fees were due last week, and although they got no directive from the ministry, they went ahead and accepted students without the required fees. The only fees being accepted was a $25 registration fee. Efforts to ascertain the situation at the St Augustine campus of the UWI were futile. The bursar did not return Newsday’s calls on the matter. The UWI website also offered no information on the fees, except to refer students to the GATE website for details on applying for that assistance. In an interview with Newsday, however, Abdul-Hamid said, “It is my expectation that by the first week in January to have everything in place.” He said 90 percent of the work on the matter was completed and he expected “it to be finalised by the end of the week.” The minister also promised to make a comprehensive statement on the matter, explaining all the details, including those about the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with private tertiary institutions.