Maxine Henry-Wilson, the Minister of Education and Youth, on Wednesday rejected a proposal from the University of Technology (UTech) students' union to increase the education subsidy, which would ultimately lower tuition fees.

The Government currently contributes a subvention of 36 per cent to UTech's budget while it gives students at the University of the West Indies (UWI) an 80 per cent subsidy for tuition fees.

However, Karl Wilkinson, president of the UTech students' union, said the Education Minister agreed to consider some of the proposals that the executive members of the union put forward at Wednesday's meeting.

Other options

"We are disappointed (by the rejection), but we are hopeful because of her (Mrs. Henry-Wilson's) willingness to explore other options," he said.

Some of the proposals that the Education Minister will be exploring include the revamping of the Jamaica Values and Attitude (JAMVAT) programme, the provision of a pool of funds that students can borrow from, and an extension of the deadline for payment of tuition fees. The deadline for registration is today and part of the tuition fees have to be paid by then.

The students' union has been at odds with the university's administration, following an announcement that tuition fees would be increased.

Last month, the university said new students in the Faculty of Business and Management would see an increase of 21 per cent, while returning students from this faculty would pay an increase of 16 per cent.

Discrepancies in increases

All new students will pay a 20 per cent increase and other returning students will pay a 15 per cent increase.

However, the Students' Union said there were discrepancies in the increases, as the announced hikes are not applicable to tuition fees only.

According to the Students' Union, students would face increases of up to 63 per cent for other aspects of their programmes.

The union said this increase would result in overall fees for returning students being hiked by 20 per cent and up to 42 per cent for new students.

On Monday the students' union urged students to boycott registration. Some did, but many registered despite the calls for a boycott.

On Tuesday the university took a decision to roll back ancillary fees.