While there have been reports of wastage and corruption in the Government Assistance for Tuition Expenses (Gate) programme, close to $100 million has been recovered for the period 2007 to 2014 from students who failed to adhere to the contractual agreement.
Since the programme was introduced in 2004, taxpayers have spent approximately $7 billion to fund students' tertiary and vocational education.
Roughly $35 million in reimbursements by students were due to failures to complete courses, low GPAs, programme-hopping, institution-hopping and funding of non-nationals by the T&T Government, which resulted in millions of dollars in wastage.
Nothing was recovered for student reimbursement for the fiscal years 2004 to 2007. Monies were also recovered from audits conducted on the programme — $35 million and $28 million from tertiary level institutions based on reconciliation.
The money recovered from institutions was derived from a disparity in the reconciliation statements which they are expected to submit monthly and at the end of the programme. There were students who were being financed but not attending classes. Gate liaison officers monitored and evaluated the performance of institutions who received funding.
The total Gate funding recovered was $100,305,694 million. In 2013, the agreement between students and Gate and Gate and institutions were revised. When the Government entered office last September with a shaky economic environment given the decline in oil and gas prices, it signalled changes to the programme.
Last month, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said his Cabinet would proceed with “a caring eye” on the matter. While on his trip to Jamaica, he said: “We are committed to cutting out the waste, the abuse and the corruption and to ensure the sacrifice we make to pay for your education is the best we can afford.”
T&T Guardian examines how monies were expended in the last ten years on different institutions and areas of the programme.
Yesterday, Education Minister Anthony Garcia announced Cabinet’s decision on task force recommendations for the programme.
The stipulations:
In 2013, new clauses in the Gate agreement were created to eliminate wastage.
Clause 5.2 (j) and (k) states that tertiary level institutions were required to inform the ministry promptly in writing of each student who failed to meet a minimum standard of performance in his or her course.
Clause 5.2 (p) provided for a 100 per cent refund of all monies paid by the ministry on behalf of a student who at the time of payment was not a citizen of T&T with three years continuous residence immediately prior to submission of the said application.
$230 million to St George’s University
For the fiscal years 2010/2011 to 2013/2014, Gate approved $229,534,312 to 322 students studying at St George’s University in Grenada (SGU). The enrollment of new students for September 2014 was 16. In 2014, the total claims for SGU were $61,241,442.73. The total payment was $60,370,487.05. In 2015, the total claims were $58,842,673.15 while the total payment was $58,159,730.11. From next year all funding for medical students at that institution will cease.
Expenses jumped from $100 million to $700 million annually
For the past two years, the Government spent just over $1.3 billion on tuition fees on the programme. Last year, 57 institutions were paid $699,884,393.83 for claims, with the University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus, receiving the lion’s share of $178,474,155.48.
In 2014, 52 institutions were paid $638,353,296.78. UWI, St Augustine, also topped the list for highest payment — $133,163,432. This is in comparison to 2004, under the Dollar-for-Dollar Programme, when the amount expended by Government was $102,193,273 million. The following year, the amount increased to $179,699,121.
$331 million in Help loans
In addition to Gate funding, the T&T Government has been guarantor for the Higher Education Loan Programme (Help.) Since its inception in 2006, the programme has granted loans to 17,408 students at a cost of $331,117,068 million. The loans are administered by First Citizens Bank, RBC Royal Bank, Republic Bank and Scotiabank.
The loans are used to cover tuition fees, accommodation expenses, transportation costs, living expenses and study material. The loans were granted to students pursuing all levels of tertiary education, including certificates, diplomas, professional qualifications and doctoral degrees.
In 2006, the number of loans granted was 481 at a total of $8,203,649. That figure jumped to 2,529 loans to a tune of close to $41 million in its second year. By 2013, the number of loans was 1,600 valued at $35 million.
$105 million to UWI Cave Hill
For the period 2009 to 2014, the total expenditure on Gate to UWI, Cave Hill campus, Barbados, was $105,159,347. The total number of students who received Gate funding for the fiscal years 2011/2012 to 2013/2014 was 1,163. The number of students attending UWI, Mona, Jamaica, who received funding for the same period was 1,304 while the number at UWI, St Augustine, for the same period was 43,503.
For the period 2013/2014, 378 students at Cave Hill were pursuing undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. Many of these degrees are offered at St Augustine. Of that number, 103 were enrolled in medicine. For the fiscal years 2010/2011 to 2013/2014, Gate approved $229,534,312 for 322 students attending the St George’s University. These students receive 100 per cent funding.