WESTERN BUREAU — The Student Loan Bureau (SLB), which has provided more than $1.8 billion in loans to 50,000 students over the last seven years, will this year disburse $500 million in loans to college students.

The initial projection for this year’s successful applicants was 6,300 students; but at last check, the figure had climbed to 6,600. Applications closed off on April 30.

Plagued over the years by students who register late, the SLB this year launched an ad campaign to nudge applicants into filing early. There was some improvement but the Bureau still had to hire temporary staff to deal with the pile-up of applications as latecomers rushed to meet the deadline.

Nonetheless, the SLB had high marks for the advertising blitz.

“The response to the campaign was excellent,” said SLB public relations officer, Natalie Gollab. “We’re very pleased with the outcome.”

She added that the SLB had introduced a ticketing system which enabled them to process up to 200 students per day.

The Bureau has J$1.1 billion in assets and their main source of income for the revolving loan is the students’ repayment. There has been a history of problems with recovering the loans but according to the SLB, the delinquency rate has now been slashed to about 25 per cent.

Some delinquent students, Gollab pointed out, were not unemployed, just reluctant to pay.

“Some medical students want to buy a car. They know that we’ll catch up with them and when we do there’s no sign of embarrassment,” she mused.

But the SLB plans to tackle the issue head-on.

“We are going on the warpath with those students” said Lenice Barnett, executive director of the Bureau. “Especially those students who are in arrears for six months and over. We have to get the money in.”

Upon completion of the course of study, a student has 10 years to complete loan repayment.

To ensure that there is equity in students being granted a loan, and to put a stop to students manipulating the information on a form, the Bureau has, over the last three years, changed the form to reflect applicants’ living conditions.

“There are anomalies,” said Barnett. “You may have people who live in abject poverty but who have a high level of consumption. These could be barrel children. We have to account for these factors.”

To access a loan, all the information provided on a form should be verifiable.

The SLB was established in 1970 to help students access tertiary education. Under the cost-sharing scheme, students pay 15 per cent of their fees while Government pays 85 per cent. The SLB also offers loans for postgraduate studies in collaboration with First Global Bank.