At least 5,000 eligible students from poor and vulnerable households in Jamaica enrolled at approved tertiary institutions in Jamaica or at the University of the West Indies will be able to access financing provided by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) for their studies. CDB is to provide a loan equivalent to USD20 million to the Students' Loan Bureau of Jamaica to assist the bureau in offering loans to eligible students for upgrading tertiary level skills in professional, technical and vocational programmes. This, ultimately, will contribute to sustainable socioeconomic development and poverty reduction by improving Jamaica's human resource capacity. The Bank will also provide a grant equivalent to USD175,000 to assist in financing consultancy services for institutional strengthening of the Bureau to address its current operational challenges, and to provide guidance on enhancing its long-term sustainability. The CDB loan to the Students' Loan Bureau will be under the guarantee of the Government of Jamaica. In 2010, CDB approved a USD20 million loan to the Bureau. Of that amount, USD14.1 million has been disbursed to 2,222 students. The balance of USD5.9 million is expected to be disbursed by March 2013. Image Source: http://www.dineoncampus.com/vsu/