A contentious dispute over tuition fees has emerged at St Vincent and the Grenadines Community College (SVGCC), where nursing students face unexpected charges despite the government’s highly publicized fee waiver initiative. Opposition Senator Carlos James has brought attention to the situation, revealing that January 2026 nursing program enrollees are being required to pay admission fees that were supposedly eliminated under current administration policies.
The controversy stems from Prime Minister Dr. Godwin Friday’s post-election commitment, announced shortly after his November 2025 inauguration, to remove all admission fees at SVGCC. This pledge formed a cornerstone of his administration’s educational reform agenda following campaign promises made by the New Democratic Party (NDP).
Senator James, representing the opposition Unity Labour Party, utilized the party’s Star Radio platform to share correspondence allegedly received from affected students. The communication expressed profound disappointment, stating: ‘We were fooled by the so-called NDP party. Now they stated that we don’t have to pay college fees on a whole, and now three months into the program, they are saying that we have to pay.’
According to James’s revelations, the administrative oversight appears to have originated from the government’s failure to account for the January enrollment cohort when implementing the fee waiver policy. The nursing students, belonging to the Division of Nursing Education, are now facing financial obligations totaling EC$3,240 for their three-year program, plus additional registration and clinical examination fees.
James maintains detailed records showing that despite the government’s public declarations, formal payment requests have been issued to students. The opposition senator emphasized that constituents expected full implementation of the fee waiver mandate across all student categories, but instead find themselves navigating contradictory instructions regarding their financial responsibilities.