Nursing students at the College of Science, Technology and Applied Arts of Trinidad and Tobago (COSTAATT) are worried they may have to drop out of their programmes and give up on their dreams due to a non-payment of monthly stipends since October 2021
Students who are enrolled in both the Bachelor’s and Associate degree programmes are usually paid an allowance of between $1,100 and $1,300 per month.
One nursing student, who asked to remain anonymous, said money went towards expenses such as food and transport to hospitals where they were assigned for training. The training is in addition to classes, which have been online since the beginning of the pandemic.
Guardian Media was told that between October 2020 and October 2021, no stipends were paid because the entire programme was conducted virtually.
But while online classes continue, in October 2021 they were ordered to return physically to hospitals for their training courses.
Since then, the students say they have not received the monthly stipend.
One student told Guardian Media that now, they pay their expenses themselves, which defeats the purpose of them enrolling with COSTAATT.
“I went to COSTAATT because of the stipend, because I had to leave my job, as this programme requires school and training so it’s not like I could also go to work, although some have decided to but they work very late at night,” the student claimed.
Another added that some students were now considering dropping out because they needed to earn money.
“People may say it’s just one thousand dollars but to some of us, that is a lot. It used to at least cover transport and something to eat, now I have to do this all day and look for somewhere to work in the evening to cover those expenses,” that student said.
The students claimed that whenever they ask about their money, they get the impression COSTAATT is intentionally delaying the process.
“They (COSTAATT) keep on asking for banking information and then they will come back and say some people’s information was wrong and then they’ll ask everyone to resend their information again and this cycle would continue where every month there’s a new issue,” they also claimed.
The students said they were told to check with the Ministry of Education, as the payments now fall under Government’s remit.
Guardian Media contacted Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly on the issue.
“The information required was sent to the Ministry of Education on June 24, 2022. Payments are being processed currently,” Gadsby-Dolly said.
When pressed for more details, the Minister suggested Guardian Media contact COSTAATT.
COSTAATT president Dr Gillian Paul said she sympathised with the students but they were partly to blame for the delay.
Paul said the payment and student information were sent to the ministry in November 2021 but several issues were flagged.
“The ministry made a request that the information that was submitted must be completely accurate and a significant amount of time was spent getting a fairly large number of students to submit accurate information and that was largely responsible for the delay, then I fell ill with COVID-19, so that added another delay,” Paul said.
Paul said some students had closed off their bank accounts during the suspension of stipend payments while others submitted incorrect personal information.
She president said in some cases, students would take weeks to respond to their requests for updated information.
Paul said the ministry insisted on one comprehensive clean list of data and not a steady stream of corrections, adding the system meant that “Peter paid for Paul.”
However, Paul said she sympathised with the students and now that system will be changed.
“Instead of it being managed at the campus, the students will register for physical training at the Office of the Registrar, so the data will be sent automatically and not through the different nursing coordinators,” she said.
Paul said this was a learning process and assured that students will be paid all that is owed to them.
