MEMBERS of Parliament’s Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC) were told on Wednesday that the Students’ Loan Bureau’s (SLB) delinquency rate stands at nearly 50 per cent, with Executive Director Nickeisha Walsh revealing that some beneficiaries simply refuse to repay their loans while others claim they did not know they were required to do so, among the factors driving the defaults.

Committee members, however, were quick to point to the other realities confronting borrowers — including underemployment, unemployment, further studies and personal hardship — arguing that the bureau should adopt a “softer touch” and do more to understand the circumstances of graduates struggling to repay through no fault of their own.

The issue emerged as the PAAC met with the bureau of the operations of the State-owned lending agency, with lawmakers probing the causes for an SLB delinquency rate that stood at 47.5 per cent as at March 2026, a figure Walsh acknowledged continues to pose one of the bureau’s greatest financial challenges.