Guyana writes off $1.5B in student loans in first half of 2025

The Government of Guyana has written off $1.5 billion in student loans in the first six months of 2025, according to the Ministry of Finance’s mid-year report tabled in the National Assembly on Monday.

The latest round of debt forgiveness brings the total value of loans cancelled under the student loan write-off programme to $2.8 billion since its launch in 2024. The initiative, which has benefited thousands of current and former students, complements the government’s move to make the University of Guyana (UG) tuition-free.

The report also highlighted that UG spent $6.5 billion on its operations in the first half of the year and received 11,600 applications from prospective students, reflecting growing interest in higher education opportunities.

Meanwhile, the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL) programme accounted for $1.4 billion in spending during the same period. So far, 9,741 scholarships have been awarded this year, bringing the total number of GOAL scholarships issued since its inception in 2021 to 39,499.