Well .......... do not deceive the Public and take government scholarships with promises to re-pay or be bonded to service

Comrades! Not even the Minister Responsible People's Security has threaten the thugs with.... “If you don’t (voluntarily surrender) and we got to come and get you, grief is your fate".
In conclusion the Rt. Hon. PM should tell the education minister to chill-out - before he starts popping he blood vessels.

......maybe instead of starting a collection agency he should tax the hell out of his gangster clients in the numbers racket that he and his partner in crime Sears love to represent and use that to pay down student loan arrears.

What Loud Mouth Lloyd does not talk about is the fact that his very good friend Alfred Sears, while Sears was Minister of Education and Attorney General, was primarily responsible for the disastrous policies and shoddy administration procedures that gave rise to most of the outrageous abuses that have occurred within the Education Loan Authority. Alfred Sears has cost all of us hard working honest Bahamian taxpayers millions upon millions of dollars! Talk that truth Mr. Lloyd!!

Comrades! If you can jump the Que threaten students - why not go after the some $3 Billion owed to government by members business community - for anything from BEC, Property Taxes, VAT, Customs, Work Permit Fees, Business Licenses, Fines, National Insurance, Crown Lands, Etcta, Etcta?

> “I leave that right there, Mr Speaker. Because we cannot afford to be out of pocket a hundred and fifty plus million dollars, can’t happen.

But they can eventually afford to give everyone free tuition and housing....

The whole list of persons who have gotten Educational Loan Authority scholarships for the past 20 years are there for the public to see ......... All Jeff Lloyd has to do is to order the ELA to publish the defaulters' list in the NG & Tribune for the public to see - with instructions that the co-sponsors must make arrangements with the Treasury to begin making monthly payments within 6 months ..... I will bet that at least 75% of these loans are to private school students with well-off families and the culprits are now living overseas ........... after taking our money on condition to re-pay .... smdh

I agree that if there's monies owing that people should pay. However as the minister seeks to recoup these funds I ask that he bares in mind why there might be funds owing. Many many college graduates are unable to find a job because of the following reasons;

(a) A number of businesses turn down college graduates because they either don't want to pay or cannot afford to pay qualified people. Some persons have been told point blank, "I cant afford to pay you",

(b) In many government agencies old retired persons have been brought back to work or consult, clogging the system, preventing the promotion of those currently employed which would in turn create vacancies for new qualified persons to be employed who could have otherwise opted to stay abroad rather than returning home to "give back" only to be disappointed.

(c) in 2015 2000 persons lost their jobs in one day!! Many of these persons were not re-employed.

(d) What about those owing who reside in Grand Bahama where persons can barely keep the electricity on because of a lack of employment.?

So again while I understand 156 million is good chunk, your threat may have just added undue anxiety to the many who genuinely cannot repay! Don't forget to be human in your quest!!

Stop condoning privileged Bahamians who are fleecing the government ...... while poor children who go to government schools cannot even qualify to get a HS diploma because of a dysfunctional public school system and homes ........ This present two-tiered educational system is unequal and unjust

Another sad state of affairs.
What happens next?
Who will stay here?
Once educated, and eyes opened, how does this corrupt, bankrupt, jobless place look?

Do not despair .......... We need to drain the swamp (in this case, the square)

**‘Pay Back Student Loans - Or Face Court’**

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

THE Education Loan Authority (ELA) is owed over $100m in outstanding loan payments for its student loans scheme, Education Minister Jerome Fitzgerald said yesterday.

He has urged borrowers to arrange repayment methods or face court action.

Mr Fitzgerald said the Authority, which has assumed full responsibility for the loan scheme, 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. Approximately 4,733 loans have been issued to date, he said.

**Folks .................. this was March 1, 2016 ............. Nothing of consequence has changed**

WILL JEFF LLOYD CHANGE THIS CULTURE OF BILL-DUCKING???????

A large percentage of these loans were "given away" by Carl Bethel when he was the Minister of Education .......... Funny, how things come full circle ........ Lloyd and Bethel must now clean up this mess that really started with the FNM and just mushroomed for 15 years.......... BOL

Publish the Names, 30 days to pay or commence Court Proceedings. This is critical, as if we have a "D" Average, these Culprits represent our more intelligent, who with all their higher intelligence are using it to avoid their obligations, which unless curbed will simply carry over into the work place and indeed, possible political life. Real problem is this is an ethical issue, which is hard to address in adulthood and is more of an upbringing issue, which means the Parents of these Kids were most likely crooked and have simply passed it on to their Children, hence dare I say why this Country has gone to hell in the past 43 years since Independence and the future is bleak.