Senator Keisal Peters has raised an urgent alarm regarding a “troubling situation” where students awarded national scholarships and bursaries are being left in limbo just weeks before the start of the university semester.
According to Peters, many students who received exhibition scholarships or bursaries last year have obtained their university acceptance letters but are now facing administrative delays in accessing their funds.
Peters explained that the standard process requires students to submit their acceptance letters to the Service Commission, which then sends a memo to the Cabinet for approval. However, she reports that Cabinet has yet to address these applications, leaving first-time students unable to pay registration fees, book flights, or secure housing.
Peters specifically called out Minister of Higher Education Terrence Ollivierre, noting that despite his public commitments in Parliament to ensure students’ education is not disrupted, actions are failing to match words.
Some students have reportedly been questioned by officials as to why they did not apply for the funds sooner, a query Peters described as illogical since students must wait for official university acceptance before they can apply for the release of scholarship monies.
