Why now Government!!

[WarOne]

Well for the longest while I have been saying I should go back to school and do something with my life so decided to check out facilities and settled on SAM-School of Accounting and Management.  Orientation was yesterday and was eagerly anticipating the course I was entering when... the bomb dropped, the speaker at the orientation stated plainly that GATE funding has been pulled for first year students, making the vein in my forehead pulsate, soon after he added that it was a mistake and most likely the funding will be reinstated making me settle down.  Well the guy said he was going to find out for sure on Tuesday I think, but what the hell I took my gamin rig money and paid for this course was saving again to build up enough to organize a real good system right now and if GATE funding is not reinstated will have to spend that for the tuition...  What the hell why the Government messing up with my plans!!!!

[New Era Outlaw]

...because it's literally chock full of a**holes. I can't seriously think of a reason why the Government would yank the plug from the GATE programme, something which, in my opinion, helped a lot of students out in pursuing their Tertiary education.

However, I'd be lying if I said that I didn't see this coming. It was announced a good while ago, and it was probably only a matter of time before people whipped out the torches and pitchforks.

[liquidmetal]

yea i was at the orientation too..meh heart got heavy when i heard that bombshell...well we're all keeping our minds positive in hopes that on tuesday all will be well..

[WarOne]

One thing that made me happy was when that guy at the end said that SAM students get 30-40 percent off on DSL, if TSTT going to drop the price and then theres that discount, can put aside some money for myself and not put all into saving for the Second semester!!

[Crixx_Creww]

lol @ the dsl thing good luck getting thru with that

secondly

there is a lot of fraud with schools and the gate, and that is a reason the reason why government has been auditing and p[ulling funding from schools that have been defrauding the government millions of dollars.

if sams said it was a mistake, i really really hope so too because my money tied up with them as well and id hate to know they defrauding the government.

[Eroo]

Not that I think the Government isn't full of a$$holes but I heard the reason why the Government may pull GATE on SAMs and SBCS is that they have been abusing it by needlessly raising prices since they know they Government is gonna kick in half.

[liquidmetal]

i got thru with the student discount with dsl in about 2/3weeks..not that bad a wait compared to what i've know others to experience..
well accordin to Pirali yestrday, he said that som student went to the accreditation council to find out if his degree was accredited as they told him..so when filling out the form he put in the wrong information for the assessing body section..instead of NCC or London Met he gone n put in SAM..so the council queried it n the university replied no., they never gave sams authorisation to asses exams..that was one part...the other part government contesting bout is that SAMS does'nt deal with london met directly, since NCC is the mediator in the whole process..so the gov want them to handle they biz directly with the university now..to a point i find the government jus tryin to find a way to keep the money to invest in sports or somtin lol pfft..anyways..hopefully we'll get a positve response tuesday..
according to Pirali..."I can't find a reason under the sun, why the would say no"...but then is the gov.. so u never know
keep hope alive ppl!

[UltimateGamer]

But then people like me who really need the assistance will end up working cepep to pay for my course leartes

[Spazosaurus]

Anyone ever asked the schools how the success rate has been affected since the introduction of GATE? steupse, too many students just doing courses for the sake of doing them, when exam time reach they either fail miserably, or transfer to another course.

I agree whole heartedly with this. This is very true. Reaaaallll people doing degrees in SAMS (and other institutions) just because its free. They make it more difficult for those who really interested in the subject by overcrowding the place, but the institutions eh like nothing better because is money in their pocket. Personally when I started in SAMS, gate was now coming into effect. As a matter of fact, it didnt even come into effect until year 2 started and at the end of that year, we got back a nice checque (refunded tuition feed from year 1).

One thing that crossed me with SAMS is that the bloody raised the exam fees. In the beginning, they gave us a breakdown of the fee structure for tuition and exam fees. When time reach now to pay for year 3 exam fees, suddenly they have gone up significantly, so much so, exam fees alone come up to almost as much as the initial quote they gave us for exam fees AND tuition. So in essence, they making moreeee money, because im sureeeeeee they skim some money off them exam fees. Damn scamps.

PPle who going into the degree program, i'll give y'all a piece of advice. Whatever is the scene with government and their gate, you pay what they ask for and later down the road, if gate comes back in, yo'll get a refund.

Secondly, if you're going in to do the CIS degree, ill suggest that you check out SBCS's CIS instead. Dont let the name fool you. Its verrry different and IMO, it seems much more flexible and technical. There's a lot of options to choose from and at the end, you'll most likely come out actually knowing what you're about. Now im not saying SAM's degree is bad, on the contrary, I think its very good, but SBCS's own seems to be a bit better.

[SPK]

If I'm not mistaken, when it comes to paying exam fees, do you pay SAMS for those fees directly, or do you pay the university that's offering the program itself?

Right now I still have to pay my fees for this year, because they told me that I had to still file late registration fees (even though my late registration was due to UWI itself), and I have to wait till tomorrow to get that money. I hope UWI doesn't kick up a fuss for getting those documents late, cuz it's just financial documents to clear....

[Spazosaurus]

Bank drafts are made out to Sam Caribbean Ltd. So yeah, it goes through SAMS first where they proceed to siphon out their "cut"

[rb]

Well i took a year off from sams which ended up reaching close to 3 years now, never had gate so I ain't gonna miss it. I was very disappointed with all the theory that was jammed up our collective asses during my time there. Probably had 5-6 six practical classes which involved scrapping some P1 systems and installing Windows 98. That was it, lets not get started on the Web Design.

One thing that I've been advised to do by all the corporate IT people I've met through my dad is to do various certs. MCSE CCNA etc. They do help a little more when looking for jobs. I myself have started doing the coursework for MCSE, cause honestly I don't see myself finishing SAMS until 2009.

[UltimateGamer]

As a matter of fact Unknown I am doing the SBCS CIS degree and let me tell you, it is a great program. The only thing is that it is very very very very expensive. And with pounds going up even more.

Let me put it in perspective.

Registration at SBCS $800 ttd
Registration at London 496 GBP x 13 = 6448 ttd and 250 GBP every year continuing fees (x3)
Tuition <-- Gate $4000 ttd(year 1), $5000 ttd year 2, $8000 ttd year 3, and $12000 ttd year 4(and tuition is not offered for all modules at this time)
Exam Fees 196 GBP per exam x 13 = 2548 ttd <-- First year x2, second year x3, third year x4, final year 96GBP x 6

So even with gate you spend almost 22932 + 7488 + 9450 + 6648 + 5000 = 51318 ttd, assuming you do not fail a subject.

Thus, I NEED GATE. As for the teachers, I can vouch for them, The content is great if you're not too much into programming (only java) and the times are flexible.

[rb]

has anyone switched from SAMS to SBCS after completing year 2 ? Anyone know how that goes down ?

[Spazosaurus]

SAMS is similarly priced as well, but the year extra of SBCS courses pushes it over the top.

[liquidmetal]

^^ yea like thos who transferred to the computing offered by greenwich at sbcs...anyone did that or is doin that

[UltimateGamer]

We only pay tuition to SBCS, everything else we pay directly to london.

But as we all know, since gate tuition has raised drastically

[UltimateGamer]

I am doing web engineering from greenwich as well atm.

The student in this class all has a problem because of the amt of work you have to cope with. And this is year 2.

[UltimateGamer]

But then people like me who really need the assistance will end up working cepep to pay for my course leartes

why should it be cepep? i was cleaning jewellery in gulf city when i was doing my Associate's Degree in Costaatt, and i was testing toys in toymart when i started Chartered Institute of Marketing in SBCS. Everyone has to work a couple dead end jobs in order to secure educational success at some point, if you ask me it builds character as you have to not just earn your qualification but also a means of paying for it.
 Not everyone will agree with that, but noone ever said we all needed to always be on the same page.

Nah man d cepep ting was ah joke. I currently hold down 2 jobs and seeking a third. In addition to all of this i do have a wife and new born to take care of. I wish character building was the issue. Its just feeding the family with the increase prices of everything and then the additional strain that you did not cater for when you signed up for your course, that is, gate being refuted.

ps sorry about the double post

[Crixx_Creww]

Anyone ever asked the schools how the success rate has been affected since the introduction of GATE? steupse, too many students just doing courses for the sake of doing them, when exam time reach they either fail miserably, or transfer to another course.

I agree whole heartedly with this. This is very true. Reaaaallll people doing degrees in SAMS (and other institutions) just because its free. They make it more difficult for those who really interested in the subject by overcrowding the place, but the institutions eh like nothing better because is money in their pocket. Personally when I started in SAMS, gate was now coming into effect. As a matter of fact, it didnt even come into effect until year 2 started and at the end of that year, we got back a nice checque (refunded tuition feed from year 1).

One thing that crossed me with SAMS is that the bloody raised the exam fees. In the beginning, they gave us a breakdown of the fee structure for tuition and exam fees. When time reach now to pay for year 3 exam fees, suddenly they have gone up significantly, so much so, exam fees alone come up to almost as much as the initial quote they gave us for exam fees AND tuition. So in essence, they making moreeee money, because im sureeeeeee they skim some money off them exam fees. Damn scamps.

PPle who going into the degree program, i'll give y'all a piece of advice. Whatever is the scene with government and their gate, you pay what they ask for and later down the road, if gate comes back in, yo'll get a refund.

Secondly, if you're going in to do the CIS degree, ill suggest that you check out SBCS's CIS instead. Dont let the name fool you. Its verrry different and IMO, it seems much more flexible and technical. There's a lot of options to choose from and at the end, you'll most likely come out actually knowing what you're about. Now im not saying SAM's degree is bad, on the contrary, I think its very good, but SBCS's own seems to be a bit better.

sams not free though...

11 thousand is fees is certainly not free...