Around 6,000 complaints filed over student support funds

AMMAN — Approximately 6,000 complaints have been submitted to the Ministry of Higher Education objecting the recently issued list of students covered by the support funds, Higher Education Minister Adel Tweisi told The Jordan Times on Monday. 

Most of the complaints submitted by the students were petitions to convert loans into grants, according to the minister. 

The Directorate of Scholarships at the Higher Education Ministry announced the initial list of beneficiaries on January 6, where all applicants meeting the necessary requirements were granted either scholarships or loans.​

“The revision of the complaints will start shortly and the process will take a week,” Tweisi said, adding that the final list will be announced after a period two weeks. 

Fakher Daas, coordinator of the National Campaign for Defending Students’ Rights (Thabahtoona), told The Jordan Times that “one of the biggest concerns regarding the student support funds is the large increase in the loans to grants ratio”, stressing that “the main contribution should be based on actual scholarships, and  not loans”.

“We [Thabahtoona] are afraid that the student support system will end up turning into a loan fund, working just like a bank under a different label,” Daas added.

The coordinator also referred to the slowdown in the Jordanian economy over the past four years, stressing that “the poor financial capacity of the citizens added to the increasing tuition fees leave many students with no other option than resorting to these funds”.