Student Loan Scheme

J. Roughan

11 February 2010

Honiara 

Solomon Islands government is one of a handful of nations worldwide that pays big bucks for its students to attend university classes. For the past 40,years now--during colonial days as well--governments of the day dished out money for air fares tickets, accommodation costs, tuition fees, pocket money and other costly items to insure that its students study in overseas institutions.

 

Few countries, including the richest ones like Australia, New Zealand, USA, etc.underwrite the costs of their citizens attending universities. Students, for the most part, pay for their higher education costs out of their own pocket. Of course they must repay the loan once schooling is finished and they have entered the labour market. 

 

Rich and poor countries alike, however, have set up Student Loan Schemes which allow qualified students a chance to attend university courses and college level training. In other words qualified graduates from secondary school take out loans to cover the high costs of attending universities.

 

Most of the time, however, this loan money comes through commercial banks which loan out the necessary money to cover most of the costs of students attending university level education. Normally, banks shy away from lending out money for such worthy causes because it's the rare student who has enough security to back such a loan. However, if a commercial bank could secure a government guarantee to back such a loan, many banks would leap to get into this market.

 

Unfortunately, here in the Solomons I doubt if any of the three commercial banks now operating in Honiara would touch such a student loan scheme if it were simply backed by a Solomon Islands Government promise. No, any student loan scheme would have to be backed by an overseas government commitment before a local bank would seriously think about getting into the business of lending money to students for higher education.

 

As it stands at present, a qualified student has only two options to fund higher education: self funding which is hardly an option for the vast majority of Solomons families or secondly, to qualify for government sponsorship. As we have witnessed these past few weeks and in fact every year about this time, only a limited number of students win government sponsorship while the others have no other option.

 

Slowly, over the next 5 to 6 years, basic education--adult learning, pre-school, primary and early secondary--must become more and more  government's focus. Upper secondary, post secondary and especially university level classes' costs, however, must some how be funded by the very students attending higher education classes. 

 

From before independence, the most expensive education costs--those connected to university level education--have been borne by the nation while the vital education years--adult, pre-school, primary--have fallen to the nation's poorest, villagers and the urban poor. That trend which is slowly being reversed--government now pays for primary school fees--and a new era of students themselves paying for higher education must be introduced. In other words, basic education costs are government's work while higher education costs are to fall to those who will gain most  from their diplomas and degrees.

 

But there are few if any ways for a budding student hoping to gain an overseas degree to secure sufficient money to cover high education costs. A Student Loan Scheme administered by a local commercial bank, with a guarantee from one of the nations donors--Australia, New Zealand, EU, Taiwan, etc.--is a viable option.

 

The nation can not continue its present course of funding the vast majority of overseas training even when much of this funding comes from other countries There is a great need for the Solomons to have its own university . . . USP and UPNG already recognize the Solomons great academic potential and have already set up their own universities right here in Honiara. The least our nation can do is convince one of its donors to guarantee local banks to make funds available for worthy students to cover the heavy expenses of higher education.