Student loan relief
SLB announces debt reset initiative for students affected by Hurricane Melissa
NEARLY 2,000 beneficiaries of student loans enrolled in schools across five parishes, and just under 5,000 who are now repaying debts to the Students’ Loan Bureau (SLB), will get some relief under the entity’s debt reset initiative.
Speaking at the weekly Hurricane Melissa recovery post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House in St Andrew on Wednesday, executive director of the SLB Nickeisha Walsh said effective next week, individuals in St Elizabeth, Westmoreland, Hanover, St James and Trelawny will be able to benefit.
“Currently, we have 1,948 students that are enrolled in institutions across these parishes; we have also identified 4,450 repayment customers who reside within these parishes. For the students in schools we are going to give them a $60,000 grant in aid to support their post-Melissa efforts and for those in repayment we are giving them a three-month deferral on their account from November 2025 to January 2026,” Walsh disclosed.
She said students outside those five parishes who were impacted by the hurricane will also get assistance, but on a case-by-case basis.
In the meantime, under the broader debt reset programme which will run between December 1, 2026 and April 30, 2026, students will be able to clear their arrears through a 50 per cent waiver on their interest arrears from the SLB as well as a 100 per cent waiver on their charges and 100 per cent waiver on insurance fees.
For students in “good standing”, Walsh said, “we will be giving $100,000 to be applied on all of those student loan accounts, so currently we have 8,890 and come next week $100,000 will be applied to their accounts”.
“This is about encouraging them to continue to be good customers. Once you are in the debt reset programme and after a year you continue to be current, the SLB offers a two per cent reduction on your interest rate. So this will allow students to reduce their repayment cost and give them the opportunity to have more disposable income,” she noted.
The SLB’s borrowing rate currently stands at three per cent, moving from as high as 16 per cent. The entity currently has 35, 360 loans in its portfolio of which 11,634 are delinquent while 8,890 are current and 14,836 are in moratorium.
The debt reset programme is an opportunity for students to reduce their loan balances, eliminate accumulated charges, and establish a more sustainable path towards repayment. The initiative supports customers both in good standing and those in arrears.
