The National Student Loans Company, the successor to the Student Loan Committee of 2002, now has a loan portfolio of $32 million and 744 active accounts.
There are 187 current students taking advantage of this programme and accessing $5.4 million worth of loans.
Minister of Finance Camilo Gonsalves said on Monday that in 2020, the government unambiguously committed to furthering the Economically Disadvantaged Student Loan Programme” through a number of measures, including a pledge to “reduce the interest rate on all existing and new loans going forward to 55 percent.
“The impact of the La Soufriere eruptions and the post-COV1D spike in interest rates conspired to delay that pledge, but the time has come for its fulfilment. After extensive consultations with the National Student Loans Company over the course of 2023, with an eye on existing interest rate trends, borrowing costs, and delinquencies, we have agreed to reduce student loan interest rates from the current six percent down to 4.5 percent.”
Gonsalves said this will undoubtedly be welcome news to the students and families currently taking advantage of this programme, as well as those who have been faithfully repaying their loans.
“On the other hand, we also agreed with the National Student Loans Company that more can and should be done to address the unacceptably high rate of delinquencies within the program.”
Gonsalves said recent analysis indicates that far too many of the delinquent borrowers are gainfully employed persons—many within the civil service—who have simply decided not to repay their loans.
