The “USAID” grant suspension threatens the future of academic students

Yola Hashem wrote in Al -central:

The US State Department’s decision to suspend foreign aid, at the request of US President Donald Trump, was a shock to thousands of private universities who benefit from the “USAID” program in Lebanon and are totally dependent on this aid to cover their university premiums, their residence and livelihoods, which makes their academic fate hanging in waiting for what Things will come to him after the end of the freezing period, especially the students of the Lebanese American University, the American University of Beirut, and others. The students who benefit from the “USAID” program, specifically at the Lebanese American University, have received an email stating that the grant will stop after three months. What is the fate of students?

Member of the Parliamentary Education Committee, MP Adkar Traboulsi, tells Al -Central: “I heard the news through the media, but I did not hear about the suspension of grants in Lebanon from an official source yet,” noting that “this decision will be affected by the students’ public school students, since the program was They target them mainly and they were receiving a “USAID” grant to join the American University in Beirut or the Lebanese American University and sometimes smaller but prestigious universities.

Traboulsi believes that “the damage will be great if the scholarships are long stopped and they have started their university studies. The student who studied one or two years of two university, what will he do in the remaining years if the scholarship suddenly stops? No answer. But I heard that the American University in Beirut is looking for alternatives, while other universities do not know. The universities themselves must find a solution if the matter does not affect the suitability of the certificate on the basis of which the student received the scholarship.

Traboulsi confirms that “the major universities that offer grants have resources called“ endowment ”, have nothing to do This grant. However, the major universities have educational assistance from other and supportive sources, applying them to some students according to the rate of high signs, need or two things together or giving assistance in exchange for some of the work that the student takes inside the university, and this is no fear for it, especially since the academic situation obliges the university to allocate Money for grants and research. For example, Master’s students in AUB are studying without paying in exchange for research.

Traboulsi notes that “not all universities in Lebanon benefit from the USAID but only three or four universities, which have previously reduced aid for a while. But the harm of the decision will be great for a few hundred students from the public school, whose parents cannot register in universities such as AUB and Lau. A exam for the student’s level was conducted a lesson for the file of “family -social need” and this matter was important for these, and his endowment would return with real and great harm to them because they deserved the grant.

“Of course, outstanding students who cannot secure a seat for them in the AUB, they can secure a seat for them at the luxury Lebanese University,” he added. A student of engineering, medicine, or pharmacy, who is studying at the American University of Beirut, can enter the Lebanese University. If we assume that the American scholarship has stopped suddenly, and the university did not provide him with assistance, there must be an arrangement to transfer them to the Lebanese University in order to continue his studies in terms of stopping.