Kreetika Kumar 
Good news for over 53, 700 students, as the government has announced that all outstanding Tertiary Education Loan Scheme debt is forgiven.
However, this excludes the in-service training.
The TELS debt comes to a tune of $650 million which is owed by 53,725 students.
Finance Minister, Professor Biman Prasad says none of these students, parents, guardians and families will have to pay a single cent to the government.
However, he says to ensure that students serve the nation and do justice to the taxpayers, they will have to serve a bond.
Professor Prasad says the bond service will be years of study multiply by 1.5 for the graduates.
He adds those who choose not to serve the bond will have to pay the equivalent cost.
Moving forward, Prasad says the government will provide scholarships under the rebranded scholarship scheme to students on merit with a total of $148.2 million allocated for this scholarship.
“This will cater for the scholarships for the 8720 new students and funding needed for the 9 148 existing students. Eligibility marks will be based on labour market needs and enrollment capacities of the universities and their own criteria.”
Professor Prasad says the bond for new students under this scheme will be years of study multiply by one and half times if tuition only, and years of study multiplied by two times if tuition and allowance are paid.
He adds in terms of allowance the students under merit based scholarship will be eligible for $3,400 per semester effective from 1st January, 2024.
Professor Prasad says all students under scholarships other than merit based will receive $2500 per semester if they study at campus away from home and $1500 for home based campuses.
