£2.3m in scholarship debts owed to Government by 295 students

Some £2.3m in scholarship debts are owed to the Gibraltar Government by 295 students, the Minister for Education John Cortes told Parliament on Wednesday morning.

According to Government statistics there are 12 students who gave up their scholarship awarded in the academic year 2025/2026.

Dr Cortes said that as of January 31, 2026, there are 295 debtors and the total of £2,357,897.13 owned to Government.

In November 2023, the Government had reported that it was owed £1.65m in university scholarship grants from 240 students.

GSD MP Edwin Reyes asked why the debt was increasing rather than decreasing.

“You have to look at each case individually, this is the sum total of all the individual cases no two cases will be the same,” Dr Cortes said.

“In general students or their guarantors enter in a repayment scheme and pay a certain amount per month.”

“It really depends on all the individual cases and obviously, it also depends on how many students give up each year.”

“If more students give up one year, that will be quite a big chunk of additional debt, which may or may not be caught up by all the individual repayment plans. It’s very difficult to compare without looking case by case into each individual set of circumstances.”

Mr Reyes asked if the repayments were being met and if there has been any prosecution, to which Dr Cortes replied that there is recourse for other action.