U.B. President Says Debt “Write-Off” is not Sustainable!

Clement Sankat

Today we asked Sankat his thoughts on the P.U.P.’s release to write off the students’ debt at the University of Belize. Sankat said that he hadn’t seen the release, but that it was a noble call to champion a write off. He noted, however, that it will not solve the problem, saying it was unsustainable. He says more scholarships and an increase in subvention may help to offset costs to students and that a more sustainable form of financing higher education must be explored.

Clement Sankat, President, University of Belize

“If you do it now, you are going to create a precedent here that I hope you will be able to sustain. I would suggest one way to treat with these issues in Belize would be first to provide more scholarships that are based upon need; the need must be clear so that poor kids can come to university. Another way to do it is to give the university a bigger subvention so that its tuition could be lowered so that you don’t have to pay as much. But I think that is a noble call from the Opposition, but is it sustainable? That is the key – you start something can you continue it? The problem with university education is to make it sustainable. You start writing off debts today, what happens tomorrow, what happens the next year? I think we need to find a more sustainable form of financing higher education in Belize. It must be thought through very carefully. How much the student pays and how much the government pays. How many needy students, needy, these are clearly students who are from difficult financial circumstances but have the academic ability, how you help them. It is not easy. It is a complex issue and it needs a discussion at a policy level, honestly, it does need a discussion.”