Relief for med students

Administrators of The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, have sought to allay fears of deregistration raised by third-year medical science students after communication was sent on Monday outlining the need to pay outstanding fees.

An email seen by The Gleaner indicated that the deadline to pay fees for the first semester for Year Three students, which started in June, was on August 25. Several students expressed concern about not being able to sit their final exam, which is to begin on Friday.

However, campus registrar Dr Donovan Stanberry has sought to dismiss any suggestion that students would not be able to sit their exams because of non-payment. However, he insisted that The UWI’s payment regimen was no different from other leading universities in the world.

“Every student, whether you are a medical student or not, you are supposed to pay your fees upfront in order to facilitate registration. If you go to Harvard or any other place in the world, that is how it is run,” said Stanberry.

The registrar disclosed that the university has extended its deadline and provided the option for students to enter a payment plan. Twenty per cent of tuition would have to made upfront and all outstanding fees should be paid over the course of the semester before the start of examinations.

“What we have said to them is that, you started learning in June, you have consumed the teaching … If you have not paid, you can do your exam starting August 25. However, before you can go to your next semester, which starts in September, you would have had to clear the fees from the semester just ending now. That is all the memo is saying,” Stanberry said.

However, there are other challenges, medical science students say, including inadequate communication.

Students have also raised concern about a foreign-currency rate which has moved to record highs.

“When we signed up for medicine in the 2019-2020 academic year, school fees started at the exchange rate of 135:1 and now it has moved from 141:1 in 2020-2021. In 2022, the fees have started at 155.35 cents … . The reality of it is that over $400,000 has been the increase from this year from last year,” another student, who spoke to The Gleaner on condition of anonymity, said.

This translated to fees of $3.78 million in Year One; $3.948 million in Year Two; and $4.35 million in Year Three, the student said.

The student elaborated that schoolmates primarily affected by the depreciation of the dollar against the greenback are full-paying enrollees who depend on student loans or the 50 per cent bursary offered by the university.

Incoming medical science students who hoped to tap the 50 per cent bursary will not be able to access that benefit.

UWI principal, Professor Dale Webber, said in a town hall on Tuesday that the financial crisis faced by the university made it difficult to provide this subsidy.

Stanberry clarified that the withdrawal of the bursary applied only to new students.

“Those who are in the programme, obviously, we have a commitment to carry them through, but this year we are not in a financial position to do so. We are hoping that next year, better times will prevail and we will be able to restore it,” said Stanberry.

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