TELS Outstanding Debt Stands at $571 million
$347 million in debt was collectable and around 29,762 students should be repaying their TELS debt.
The Tertiary Education Loans Scheme (TELS) outstanding debt stands at $571 million.
This was revealed on Friday, June 10 by the Tertiary Scholarships and Loans Service (TSLS) chief executive officer, Hasmukh Lal, during the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Fiji Revenue and Customs Service (FRCS).
The MOU was signed to facilitate and strengthen the current student loan recovery process for graduate TELS recipients who are employed.
Mr Lal said $347 million in debt was collectable and around 29,762 students should be repaying their TELS debt.
“As of 31st May, the total investment through TELS has been $603 million,” he said.
“The total recovery is around $23 million so the outstanding is $571 million and from this $571 million, $347 million is collectable.
“That means the students have completed their studies, they may be in the workforce, running small businesses, or have not found employment.”
Mr Lal said 56,717 students have been assisted, out of those 51,396 students were assisted through TELS and 5,321 students have been assisted through a scholarship.
He said these figures included both those who had completed and those who were currently continuing their studies.
Mr Lal said the outstanding loan was impacted by COVID-19.
“The government made a decision in 2020 and 2021 to suspend the repayment so that actually impacted collection but from this year, students or the graduates who are in the workforce have started repaying,” the CEO said.
FRCS CEO, Mark Dixon, said the ability to repay loans was growing and the trend would continue.
“The scheme is there to give people an education and the skills to allow them to get a job,” he said.
“The minute they get a job, they start to contribute broadly to the Fijian economy, so the key to the success of the program is students getting a job that was obviously very difficult through the COVID period.
“We’re seeing that change now, we’re seeing opportunities for them to gain employment not only here in Fiji but also overseas.”
Mr Lal said they will be collaborating with FRCS to maximize their loan recovery efforts.
“Apart from the information sharing, this MOU will be looked at in terms of assessing applications for accelerated repayment,” he said.
“Also calling, emailing and visiting the students to initiate loan recovery, in terms of defaults, and updating FRCS in terms of the graduation list.
“We’re going to work for travel releases and for those graduates who get employment internationally, make some form of arrangement for repayment from abroad.”
Online Repayment
Students can now manage their loan or scholarship affairs through an online portal.
Mr Dixon welcomed the partnership and highlighted that the signing of MOU coincided well with the implementation of student loan services on the Taxpayer Online Service (TPOS) earlier this week.
“Students will now be able to do all of their loan management, monitor their loans and make payments online through our new TPOS system,” he said.
“They can now do that from their homes or from a new place of work when they’re working, hopefully, post-completion in their studies and they no longer have to come into an office and make face-to-face transactions in FRCS.”
Mr Mark assured the online portal was safe to use.
“The portal deals with every Fijian taxpayer’s personal information, so it is certainly very secure,” he said.
“It’s been a key feature of the development of the TPOS system, what we’re doing is making people’s lives a lot easier, so the system is certainly secure.”