The authorities should remove the student loan requirement for a guarantor

Dear Editor, Please allow me to highlight a serious flaw in our state system for funding of tertiary education. The current system requires students to qualify for a loan by fulfilling the following requirements:

• Filling up a Ministry of Finance Information form (new or continuing student)

• Providing a guarantor for the loan by having them sign an affidavit

The student information form is straightforward: Name of applicant, registration number, course and faculty and cost. This is by no means an unreasonable step in the process as this is the vital information required by the state agency. What comes next, however, is the requirement to secure a guarantor for their loan, and the guarantor also has a form to fill giving name, nationality, age, date of birth, address, telephone number; relationship to borrower; occupation, place of employment, address and telephone of employer; name of employer; period of employment; net annual income; taxpayer identification number; national identification number;

affidavit to be sworn before a commissioner of oaths; guarantor’s credit score; guarantor’s tax compliance certificate.

This system is inherently unfair to our young people who are seeking to further their education, since they are being placed in a situation of finding someone who would not only be willing to guarantee a loan, but one who is willing to undergo much stress to provide numerous pieces of information to comply with the requirements. For out-of-town students the task is multiple times harder, especially if they have families working in the informal sector, or some parents unemployed. If no one is willing to take the responsibility of guaranteeing a loan, the struggle often leads to despair as for the less well-off the harder the task becomes of finding a guarantor.

I would ask the present administration to change the system created by the previous government and make the student form the only requirement for a citizen student loan, including the ever-rising faculty fees in the loan amount. They should remove the unnecessary requirement of a guarantor as it is onerous and creates an unfair burden on those in the direst financial need. Let a student loan become a right easily enjoyed by all citizens; let us truly put the needs of youth first on our list of national priorities.

With all the talk about Sovereign Wealth Fund investments it would be wise to heed the words of Benjamin Franklin: “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”

Yours faithfully, Robin Singh