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

In total, $2.8 billion in loans have been cancelled since the student loan debt write-off programme commenced.

The government began this write-off programme in 2024, benefitting thousands of current and former students. This venture adds to the decision to make the University of Guyana tuition-free.

Meanwhile, the mid-year report noted that UG has already spent $6.5 billion on its operations in the first half of the year. The university received a mammoth 11,600 applications from prospective students during this time.

Beyond UG, $1.4 billion was spent on the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL) venture for the year so far, with a total of 9,741 scholarships awarded. A total of 39,499 scholarships have been awarded under GOAL since the programme was launched in 2021.