Mature Barbadian students at the University of the West Indies (UWI) who have the responsibility of managing households are likely to be adversely affected by Government’s decision to make Barbadians pay their full tuition fee from the 2014 academic year.
This view was expressed by political science lecturer at UWI Cave Hill Campus, Dr Kristina Hinds-Harrison, in Independence Square yesterday at the end of a protest organized by the campus’ Students’ Guild against the decision.
According to Hinds-Harrison, mature students were already faced with the responsibility of handling the schoolwork along with working for an income, amongst other things, and having to pay full tuition fee could be a burden.
“They are working, they are paying to send children to school, they are paying bills and when you place this on them, they may automatically decide . . . ‘University is not an option for me. I already have to deal with work and personal challenges so I cannot add a debt burden to this’. So what does this mean for our society? Does this sound like [a] progressive or regressive step?” Hinds-Harrison said. (AH)
