News

Thousands flocked SLB

BY KAVELLE ANGLIN-CHRISTIE, Staff Reporter

THOUSANDS OF STUDENTS flocked the Students' Loan Bureau (SLB), at the NCB Towers in New Kingston, yesterday to apply for loans before the Friday deadline.

However, what should have been a smooth process went haywire, when prospective applicants who went to the SLB on the fifth floor were asked to go back to the ground floor to write their names in the security guard's book, from which they would be called for processing. Some students, however, wrote their names on separate lists, which caused quit a bit of confusion.

The police were called in to help control what became a boisterous crowd.

A young man said when he arrived a few minutes after 7:00 a.m. his name was written in the book "but because every minute we had to be running up and down, the students were getting upset. First they told us to write our names in a book, then some people started going around with a list for people to write their names on."

Difficulty

A middle-aged woman said she found it difficult to travel from rural Jamaica to Kingston every day for her application to be dealt with. "It is costing me over $4,000 to come up every day to deal with this. I cannot keep coming up here. If it doesn't work out, then I will just have to wait until next year," she said.

Mrs. Lenice Barnett, chief executive director of the SLB, said they had nothing to do with the lists the students wrote their names on while outside. "None of those lists were authorised by us. What some of the students do is record the names of those they expect to come, but don't turn up. So we will be there calling the names and no one responds," she said.

She said they used the list prepared by the security guard, as "no one can get into the building without signing."

Mrs. Barnett said though they usually take 200 students per day, 250 were processed on Monday to accommodate the students. The deadline is still this Friday.

She said those who had difficulties with their applications can contact the SLB via phone, e-mail or letter. Mrs. Barnett also said that the SLB visited the Northern Caribbean University (NCU) campus and were there for three days, but only 165 students came to pick up the application forms. She said when they visited UWI, they were there for one week and 110 students came to collect the forms.