In Trinidad and Tobago, the Government Assistance for Tuition Expenses (GATE) programme has expanded access to tertiary education by making it more affordable. An average of some 53,000 students have benefited annually from this programme over the past five years. Total expenditure on GATE is equivalent to one-tenth of the total recurrent education (secondary and tertiary) budget over the same period.
Nothing is necessarily wrong with these developments; in fact, they are by-and-large the intended and logical consequences of the Federal Reserve’s efforts to reduce economic slack through low interest rates.