More than $11 million has been repaid to Government for successful Government Assistance for Tuition Expenses (Gate) applicants who prematurely terminated their programmes at tertiary institutions.

This was revealed by Science, Technology and Tertiary Education Minister Christine Kangalloo in the Senate yesterday. She was responding to a question on the Order Paper by Independent Senator Gail Merhair. Kangalloo said, “To the end of September this year the sum of $11,144,716.03 had been reimbursed to the ministry. “These reimbursements represent, to a large extent, repayment to the Government by the (tertiary) institutions for students who have withdrawn or abandoned programmes.” She outlined a series of measures aimed at ensuring the money paid by Government to students under Gate is repaid if the student breached the agreement.

Kangalloo said Gate, which began in 2004, provides financial assistance to citizens of T&T who are pursuing approved programmes at local and regional public and private tertiary level institutions. She said for students to access funding they must complete a Gate application form, which contained a student agreement to be signed by the student and a parent or guardian. The agreement outlines specified guidelines to which the student must comply.