Bunting raises concern about increase in UWI fees

Opposition spokesman on Education Peter Bunting is raising concern about the increase in tuition fees for students at the University of the West Indies, Mona.

According to Bunting, this will exacerbate an already dire predicament for many students and parents.

Hundreds of students will have to pay as much as $128,000 extra for tuition this upcoming academic year despite an earlier pledge that fees would be frozen amid the coronavirus pandemic.

While tuition fees remain the same as last year, the amount required for students in some faculties will be higher because costs are quoted in United States dollars.

Students in the faculties of Medical Sciences, Law, and Engineering will be primarily affected.

READ: UWI students may have to skip year as tuition costs jump more than $100,000

Bunting acknowledges that enrolment levels would inevitably fall as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

IN PHOTO: Peter Bunting

However, he believes that the figures will worsen by the hiked fees.

Bunting is also decrying the hike in the UWI tuition fees for courses quoted in United States dollars.

"It is unconscionable for students to be expected to cough up hundreds
of thousands of dollars in additional expenses, just days ahead of the
start of their respective programmes," said Bunting.

According to Bunting, educational institutions should be
acutely aware of the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on
the economy generally, and more specifically, on the pockets of
Jamaican families.

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