The Finance and General Purposes Committee of the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus met on Friday, October 8, 2004 at the request of the Guild of Students at Mona to consider proposals from the Guild to address the problem of the non-payment of tuition fees by some students at the institution.

F&GPC considered the proposals from the Guild and those from the Administration and agreed to the following:

1. The University would maintain the deadline of Oct. 15 for reinstatement on payment of fees, but would look to accommodate those students who might have exceptional and verifiable difficulties in meeting the Oct. 15 deadline, restricted to those students who had already indicated in writing their exceptional problems or who do so before the Oct. 15 deadline for reinstatement. Any arrangement concluded with such persons would require full payment by November 30.

2. The Help Desk now in operation in the Assembly Hall would be retained to clarify balances and provide students with information on financial options available e.g. the Credit Union

3. A small committee comprising the Deputy Principal, the Campus Registrar, the Mona Bursar, the President of the Guild of Students, the President of the UWI Alumni Association and Mr. Jeff Cobham, Campus Council representative on F&GPC, will meet to discuss the establishment, terms and conditions for the operation of a revolving loan scheme.

5. Part-time students have the option to reduce their credit load this semester, thereby bringing their fees in line with what they can afford, and therefore will receive no further special consideration.

6. Returning postgraduate students already have the concession granted by Council of not paying the new fee for postgraduates, and thereby enjoy a fee of half the undergraduate fee and half the new fee for incoming postgraduates. They too should be given no special consideration.

7. In Semester Two, all fees owed to The University of the West Indies must be paid by January 31, 2005, after which students who are not in good financial standing would be deregistered.

The Finance & General Purposes Committee agreed that these decisions would be communicated to members of the student body and accepted the offer by the Guild President that the Guild would participate fully in the efforts to disseminate the information.