MORE than 8000 students who were in Year 12 and Year 13 last year have registered under the tertiary scholarship and loans board for this year.
Board manager operations Laisiasa Corerega confirmed this yesterday saying 8293 registrations had been received so far.
For Year 13 students, 7589 had registered with Suva recording the highest number at 2011, followed by Lautoka and Yasawa with 1396 and Nausori with 1265.
He also said those interested in applying for the national toppers scheme scholarships should apply now.
“There are quite a lot of applications that we’re dealing with and not only the new ones that run into the thousands, but we’re also now administering the existing ones so there’s quite a lot of work to be done,” said Mr Corerega.
He said the tertiary education loan scheme (TELS) would cover the full cost of tuition and not have to be repaid until after a student had graduated and attained employment.
“Fijian families that earn less than $25,000 a year will pay no interest on these loans.”
Families earning between $25,000 and $50,000 a year would pay an interest of 0.5 per cent.
“Those from families that earn between $50,000 and $100,000 will pay an interest rate of 1 per cent while families who earn more than $100,000 will pay an interest rate of 2 per cent.”
Applications for the scheme will officially open tomorrow and close in March.
Students are requested to register themselves and apply for the tertiary scholarship and loans scheme while there is still time.
