By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

EDUCATION Minister Jerome Fitzgerald said yesterday that he was “pleased” with the level of participation in the student loan repayment arrangements, noting that legal action “is a last resort and not the first”.

Earlier this year Mr Fitzgerald said that the Education Loan Authority (ELA) is owed $155m in loan payments - principal and interest included. That represents approximately 4,300 outstanding loans, accounting for a delinquency rate of approximately 75 per cent amongst borrowers. He noted at the time that approximately 4,733 loans had been issued.

Mr Fitzgerald told The Tribune yesterday: “With regard to the Education Loan Authority, we are very pleased with the level of participation we are seeing. We are seeing students, past students and parents who have committed to pay and are coming in. We are negotiating those loans and making it more affordable to many of those past students. We continue to work with them.

“We want to be in a situation to hopefully be able to restart the programme because it has shown that it is beneficial. The government has increased the level of scholarships. It has more than doubled but still there is a shortfall for some students so we need to have another avenue available for them.”

Mr Fitzgerald said that the ELA, which has full responsibility for the loan scheme, has not yet had to take any borrowers to court. “That is a last resort and not a first resort,” he said.

Mr Fitzgerald noted earlier this year that of the 4,733 loans that had been issued, 16 per cent are up to date on their payments, eight per cent are up to 270 days outstanding and 76 per cent are 271 days or more behind on their payments.