A series of consultations by the National Youth Council on funding tertiary education will begin in July to support a proposal the council intends to present to Parliament later this year.

President of the council Ryan Small said the group will solicit recommendations and views from youth across Jamaica to reform the Students Loan Bureau (SLB) and introduce more sustainable methods of funding tertiary education.

“Our discussion will focus on ensuring that we have a student loan system that is sustainable and equitable and we hope that after the discussion and consultations have concluded, Parliament will take our recommendations into consideration when they are making their final deliberations,” he said.

Small said the National Centre for Youth Development (NCYD) would support the project by providing technical assistance to the group.

“The NCYD has been aiding in the research for the proposal. They will also be helping to ensure that it is completed in a timely manner and properly recorded, so that we can make the presentation,” he said.

Small said the group was formed due to mounting discussions and concerns raised in relation to the SLB and funding tertiary education.

“I decided to establish a team that would make recommendations to the Minister of Education and by extension Parliament, with regard to what young people believe are the policy changes that need to be made to the funding module used by the SLB and the government to fund tertiary education,” he said.

He said the group consists of student leaders from across the island who conducted research on tertiary funding modules used by the United Kingdom, Australia and several other Caricom and Commonwealth countries.

“We selected young people from various youth groups, representatives from the prefect and student council bodies at the secondary level as well as representatives from the sixth form associations and the guild of students at the University of the West Indies. We have looked at the graduate tax system in some European countries and we realise that most student loans provided in the United Kingdom are income contingent, while loans here are not.”

He said the reason for this is that unlike other countries such as Trinidad and Tobago where students are not allowed to remain on student loans having failed a course, here in Jamaica there are students who are still on student loans even after failing a course twice.