12,685 students took loans, didn’t complete studies and owe $160m

A TOTAL of $160 million is owed by 21,685 students who have yet to graduate, are inactive or dropped out of school.
Seventy per cent of these students were granted loans from 2014 to 2020.
Tertiary Scholarships and Loans Service CEO Hasmukh Lal said these students from 2014 took the study loans, but didn’t complete their studies.
“They may have terminated officially with us,” Mr Lal said.
“We have students who just disappeared without informing us, so they have become inactive in our records.
“From 2021 we implemented belt-tightening measures where we brought in the cut-off mark.”
Mr Lal said the total number of students assisted through the Tertiary Education Loan Scheme (TELS) since 2014 was 55,451 at a total cost of $679m.
A total of 22,141 students have graduated through the TELS at a cost of $370m; TELS in-service students who have yet to pay stands at 536 and while 1190 students have fully settled their loans.
The number of student debts that have yet to be converted to bond currently stands at 53,725.
“Actual outstanding as of May 31, 2023, was $627m, so by the time the outstanding debt is written off will be $650m,” Mr Lal said.
“Now this amount includes those who have graduated, those who are studying and those who took the loans but never completed their studies.”
He said a total of 13,300 students are currently sponsored by TSLS, both via scholarship and TELS. Of that figure, 11,625 students were active continuing students with a value of $149m.