Delay in payments a burden for students

THE delay in Tertiary Education Students Assistance Scheme (Tesas) scholarship payments is a major burden for sponsors, stakeholders, parents and students, a student says.
Lina Afaru, who will be doing her final year at Divine Word University (DWU), told The National: “The school’s administration is now putting the burden onto our parents to pay up outstanding for last year as a parental component for this year before registration.
“This is an extra burden for my father as he is the only person sponsoring me and my siblings’ tuition fees and for him to accept the school’s requirement to meet Tesas scholarship as a parental component for this year, is just too much,” she said.
“This will cause extreme disturbance to my final year of studying as I may sacrifice my studies for this year for my other siblings to have their way.”
Afaru said there were thousands of students who would also suffer if the delay continued till next month.
Maxpital Paul, who will also be doing his final year at DWU, said not all parents could afford to meet last year’s outstanding payments as well as this year’s fees.
“The delay of payments will definitely affect our studies and it will also stress out our parents and sponsors to look for school fees for us,” he said.
“Some of our parents will take risks to be able meet the demand of the university while many students will withdraw because of financial difficulties.”
Meanwhile, school representative council (SRC) president Jayson Ray said: “We cannot let the fortunate elites of this country withdraw or leave school because of the Government’s fault in paying the Tesas funds.”