In an effort to meet the Turnbull administration’s mandate that government agencies cut 15 percent from their budgets, the V.I. Board of Education will reduce territorial scholarships and special legislative grants.
In addition to the scholarships, board Chairman Keith Richards told the Senate Finance Committee on Friday that in order for the body to achieve the 15 percent reduction and survive on its $1.3 million budget for fiscal year 2000, other cuts had to be made.
Also impacting the amount of scholarships the board can award is $2,433,209 in 1,700 delinquent student loans. Although 678 people are currently repaying their loans and another 75 are in arrears by up to four months, Richards said the balance owed on student loans hinders the board from providing financial assistance to more students.
In order to collect, the board plans to implement several steps, including:

• Initiate legal action in small claims court.
• Update the list of delinquent loans for publication.
• Initiate automatic payroll deductions on some older accounts for which Social Security numbers are available.
• It implemented an amnesty from June to September that was designed to waive all interest and penalties on delinquent loans.
• Obtain a list of all government employees to cross reference with the delinquent listing and initiate payroll deductions.
• Explore the option of selling delinquent loans on an annual basis.