Barbados Today is reporting that Ross University students in Barbados are disappointed with the arrangements which have been put in place for their accommodation.
Each unit at the Villages at Coverley housing community which accommodates three to four students is priced from US$4,040 to US$4,840 per semester. This means, accommodations will cost the individual over US $1000 per month for the four month semester.
Even assuming the lowest possible rent payable by the student, this could amount to US$4 million per semester or US$12 million a year for the approximately 1000 registered students with the minimum occupancy of 3 or 4 students.
According to Barbados today, the real issue arises from apparent mandatory nature of this housing. Students were initially told that housing would not be mandatory but were denied by Ross when their chosen hosts applied to house them. Students are claiming that all applications were denied in this manner.
With the deadline for submissions of the required housing forms and supporting documents being November 25th , it is stated on the form that all students without housing exemptions “will be assigned on-campus housing automatically and charged accordingly.”
The form also warned that “Decisions made by the Housing Exemption Committee are final.”
The one thing that Ross wanted in Dominica was total control of the students. Total control is money in the hand. They could not achieve that without being able to dictate where the students lived and where the students ate. That was a major loss of greenback dollars. Maria overcame that problem and Ross got exactly what they wanted.
Old Ross Prof
A happy and healthy new year to all Dominicans. Thanks for your contribution to DNO, positive and negative thoughts. You remained true to yourselves. Let us be mindful of others feelings. There is a saying;_ “If you don’t like where you are move. You are not a tree”. Let us stop trying to calm the storm, let us calm ourselves, for the storm will pass. Remember your problem isn’t really the problem, it is really how you react to the problem. Love yourselves and others. Much love….
Man these ppl up and left us. Who the hell cares? Let them enjoy their new expensive location.
KoolKatD, one last thing, you need to re-read that article again, the Ross students are being charged $1000 US for rent and not the $2000 US you are misleading people to believe. I understand that there were being charged as much as $680 US in Dominica, next time you in Barbados go to where they renting and you would understand why it would cost more, the area is big and has lots of facilities for the students such as a gym, supermarket, stadium, fast food outlet, doctor office, dentist, pharmacy, gas station and more its a whole community there and all the students are within walking distance of each other. Finally from what i understand only a handful of students are complaining about the rent, people being people will always complain about something, I am sure some were complaining about something In Dominica as well, but as i said eventually i am sure they will settle down and Ross will grow in Barbados for many years to come. By the way I think Dominica is a lovely place.
Again, KoolKatD, Stop de bitterness and accept it for what it is. Firstly, tourist establishments always sell things more expensive that most other places an this has been so for years and it has not affected anything, but locals do not buy things from tourist establishments, next time try buying the same fish from where the locals go, I swear it cost $5 and i can prove it, and another thing read the tripadvisor website and look for Cuz fish shack, lots of tourist go there, you see nothing but good reviews on that place. The next big mislead is that Barbados will be the first to default, lol, my friend that honour belonged to Jamaica and Grenada who were with the IMF years ago. KoolKatD, while i do agree that Barbados is an expensive place, the tourist will continue to come because they come for more than the cost, why only recently I heard that the numbers were up from last year.
It would have been great if the cost for renting a similar apartment in Dominica was mention.
Whatever hurdles to be overcome in Barbados, will be overcome. Dominica has a greater hurdle to sustain itself economic growth in the absence of Ross. As the Parl. Rep of Portsmouth said, his people are long over the departure of Ross and are doing well. Both he and the DLP will be re-lected for another five failing years regardless.
Guys, there is no need to continue to be nasty towards Barbados because you lost Ross, it was not Barbados fault you lost Ross. KoolKatD, stop misleading people, no flying fish and water aint cost no where to 77.00. I understand you bitter but stop misleading people. There are other medical schools there and the students are not complaining. The cost was set by Ross and not the home owners. Eventually the students will settle down and life will go on.
Pearl, first, you have provided not a dust of a nugget, which is sad since you call yourself ‘pearl’. Humbug! Do you think that I would mislead people on such an elementary, verifiable fact? You have got to be kidding! Go to any decent restaurant or hotel in Barbados and check their price list and you will find out that I am absolutely right. The problems that Barbados is now facng with its tourism industry going belly-up and It becoming the first country in Caricom to default on its international debt derives from the fact that Barnabas is fast pricing itself out of the global tourism industry. Second, no one is blaming Barbados for DA losing Ross. But we submit that the top management at Ross made a hasty, irrational decision, a strategic blunder and their students will suffer as a consequence. And, of course, we got the facilities and will prevail in our suit for additional economic compensation. Stay tuned!
Come back da you are always welcome
MYOB and move on.Good luck to Ross in 2018 and beyond. Bon annee.
what Ross did was wrong they left when DA was devastated I know karma would bit hard., if rent is high the students will leave.
Where are they leaving to go? Dominica state college? LOL
I always said . This move is going to be regret.
Now is a great time for a school to set up in Dominica. Am sure the students will come back here. Because they loved it.
To ( RUSM )There is a saying you know what you have but you never know what you going to get .
I don’t see what this article have to do with the gov’t of Dominica. Sure our government failed big time in securing this investment but this is about the students. Barbados is mad expensive, so the cost of living for them, will increase exponentially. I wish them the best of luck. As for Dominica, we need all the luck we can get.
Only problem we have in Dominica is our leaders the failed to capitalize on the richest god given to us
Now, Chamberlain University may be having second thoughts about locating to Barbados. Their focus is nursing and other related health care fields. If doctors in training are finding that costs are high for them, there is no way nurses who have much lower earning potential after graduation could afford the high costs of studying in Barbados. Now is a good time to aggressively target Chamberlain Univ as a potential customer for our facilities formerly occupied Ross.
Koolkat to be brutally honest Dominica is rugged beauty if you love eco adventure it cant compete with Barbados on access by air or sea or on the ground. Bdos infrastructure , amenities, services, transport etc are more advanced than Dca. Yes hurricanes hit Bdos last one was 1955 before we were born. Bdos is the most developed island in the Eastern Caribbean. The UN ranks its HDI highest of developing states globally. Ross knows these facts so despite a 40 year loyalty to the Nature Isle stakeholders reckon to lift the university to the next level a shift to Bdos was key. There will be teething problems for Ross as in any new location. The Villages at Coverley where students are housed is a fabulous piece of real estate off a modern highway 5 minutes from the biggest international airport in the eastern Caribbean . Coverley has a town center, stadium, restaurants, gas station, supermarket etc. Ross’ state of the art campus is a 20 min ride away. Let google be your friend
Actually Anon, we are speaking of students. Students who were once accustomed to very low rates for housing. What good are malls and airports when your money’s being spent on boarding fees? The cost of living is very high in other countries compared to Dominica if we are being honest.
However, we cannot fully link this to the cost of living in Barbados. RUSM’s decisions appear to be made out of their own obsession to fill their purses.
The very day that I read that they had chosen Barbados, I told my friends that they were going to be hit with a massive sticker shock on rent and other living expenses. I have been going to Barbados quite frequently, and I was there just last month and in May, 2018. The last time I was there, a simple meal of flying fish and coucou (flying fish is probably imported from our beautiful and bountifully blessed Dominica) with one bottle of bottled water (cannot remember where it was imported from), cost $77.00 Barbadian, about $39.00US. Ten minute ride from airport to hotel took me for $18.00US. And these are students who go deep into debt to tune of $250,000US to finance their medical degree. I knew Barbados was not economical for students. I started my UWI education in Barbados.
Students will miss our beautiful Dominica badly. The action plan to attract another medical school to take over the facilities that now belong to us must leverage DOMINICA’S COST ADVANTAGE TO STUDENTS.
Yes indeed, thanks for the insight.
Thought Dominicans eat frogs. mountain chicken and crapaud. Never knew flying fish caught there
@ KoolkatD, I agree with you, l was in Barbados just recently on the cruise ship Discovery my family really enjoyed it in Barbados, but very expensive and I just happened to find a water hole and got 3 beers for 5us dollars that was a result.
When will Dominicans stop with their ignorance? All of a sudden you fools dont want to hear about Ross because there’s no way you can blame Skerrit this time around? When they left Skerrit was attacked on every front .. thank you DNO for carrying this piece of article.. Guess Skerrit is vindicated..
Do you know the meaning of vindicated? Vindicated for what? BeFor Ross departing our shores because of (his)Skerrit’s laziness?You sound so preposterous. Ross CEO told the world that Skerrit’s government did not have a bias to advance education and health .He thought Ross/Ad Talem was managed by you?
You are so shameless!
Skerrit Must Go
Skerrit Must Go
LAZY Skerrit Must Go Now
Hey Lennox, will you just let the blogger named ‘Channel 1’ answer those comments on your behalf?
I may be wrong but your writing a bit immature ignores spaces after punctuation, what are you thinking? And no, I’m not a Skerittite.
@ % you making zero percent point right now. Skerrit must go …lazy Skerrit must go?. Its is not skerrit who calls the radio station in the morning when he/she should be working. You must Go! Lazy % MUST GO NOW!!!
STUPPES!!!
Whomp! Whomp! Let’s send them our thoughts and prayers, during their time of difficulty. The people of Dominica took their loss and moved on. The students will get hosed, the landlords will get rich and life will move on. It’s time for our government to source new investors for the former Ross campus. We have a great modern learning facility. Let’s do our best to maximize this space for
HA! So DNO post a story that yall UWPWEE’s doh like and yall lambasting them, my how the tables have turned just cuz Skerrit MAYBE doesn’t look AS bad all of a sudden. Educate yall self, news is news even if you don’t want to hear it or doesnt support your agenda.
Boy look a set of silly people red, blue or purple…
DNO we don’t care about Ross University it is their responsibility to sort themselves out. Americans are a hit and run nation anyway no supprise there!!
Thanks DNO for bringing out the information. This is what RUSM couldn’t get from us, a monopoly on accommodation, hence their reason for using MARIA as an excuse to vacate Dominica. If our PM was weak or maybe if Lennox was PM he would have done ANYTHING to keep them including giving them authority to build their own village within Picard to rent out to students and totally ignore our local investors!!!! But praise Jah we have a visionary, no nonsense PM that cares about our people….
RUSM is seeking to recover their investments within their first year of operations and Barbados is in a desperate situation, so they will accept anything to avoid plunging deeper into recession which may lead to severe austerity measures…..
Lennox please tell us if you would have done the same like Barbados to keep Ross???? Make a public statement as you so eloquently did when they left.. in fact you said you will bring them back tell us how????
@Joe – Apparently, you are not aware that some years ago, this backward government of Skerrit gave Ross permission to build a 400 unit dormitory much to the dismay of local landlords. The previous governments of the UWP and Freedom Party resisted Ross on its desire to build dormitories for its students largely due to the negative effects it would have had on local landlords and the previously existing agreement with Ross that housing for the students would be handled by Dominicans.
For your further information, it is under this government that Ross acquired the buildings where Ross University Housing(RUH) currently sits and was providing limited housing there to some of its 1st semester students.
As I pointed out earlier, part of Ross expansion plans in Picard included building its own dormitory which was given approval by this current government you labelled as ‘visionary’. Ask the people in Portsmouth especially the landlords about it.
@Joe
The reason why Ross left was because DLP does not have a bias to getting things done to advance education and health care. Ross was upset with promises,deceipt and deception .
A lazy, incompetent DLP caused the departure.
Skerrit Must Go
Skerrit Must Go
LAZY Skerrit Must Go Now
Who the f**** cares. They left what that have to do with us.
Dno, please forget Ross we are in 2019 the student will leave them just like they leave Dominica.
So just like all you Ostriches who want to put all you head in the sand, you don’t want us to remember the comess DLP has befellan on Dominica? We will never forget how Skerro has sold out Dominica. All who was involved in the sale of Ross will repay one day.
And four people agree with this senseless thought of yours here?
Elizabeth you are writing under your fictitious heavenly name again; no matter what you write under you will get thumbs down!
God bless Dominica. Look at this place compared to Dominica, it looks so sterile,Iwould not want to live there!.
Look COm esss
… and who cares??? DNO find some real news which will benefit Dominica. We don’t want row row.
I”m with full agreement with your sentiments as expressed. Who gives a horse’s … about accommodation arrangement for American students in Barbados. Couldn’t we be given news relevant to Dominica? The revenues paid and collected in Barbados has nothing to do with the economy and treasury in Dominica.
I’m saying! Like come on! It’s a wrap, it’s over, it’s done! MOVING ONNNN
DNO Dominica left that mess in 2018….moving on!!
Well take what all you get. Not go all you wanted to go nah.
That’s fake news! Ad Talem global never wanted to leave Dominica. A lazy government led by a highly inept,dunce, incapable leader,forced the business to leave ..Start speaking the truth .
Skerrit Must Go
Skerrit Must Go
LAZY Skerrit Must Go Now
Congratulations, money and greed in action. The Ross students are going to get the SHAFT. The grass is not always greener on the other side. After paying the outrageous high rent the students will have nothing left for recreation so it will backfire on the Barbados government and people who depend on tourist money. The only people who will be making millions will be the landlords. If I were a parent of a student I would look for some other place besides Barbados.
Ross is the one who will be making the money and the owner of the housing scheme. The nationals of Barbados will not be benefiting from renting as we were in Dominica.
So how is this of any value to us? I find DNO is so messy sometimes, like how is that our issue? How is that our business? Of what significance is this to us? They moved, they are no longer our concern or responsibility.
DNO! Give it a rest…….we have moved on.
hmmm..so many angles to look at this. They have effectively removed the aspect of free-market economy from this arrangement..Apparently competition bears no weight in this.
This makes one wonder, why this arrangement was absolutely necessary, who’s investment is being forcefully protected by collusion of RUSM and the Barbadian Gov’t.
If Dominica were a “real country” with respected and capable leaders this would be an opportunity to get the Students on their side and Lobby to have Ross returned.
Mia Motley fights for her people and ensures money goes into their pockets, their efforts are heavily rewarded first, even before the interests of the students are attended to..Now, what have we got in Dominica?..A government that says, Ross could not leave fast enough, hand over the keys already, you all didn’t contribute that much anyway…smh!!
I cry no tears for them. Take what all you get!
It’s not their fault, it’s an incompetent DLP government that caused them to leave. Shame on this government.
Skerrit Must Go
Skerrit Must Go
LAZY Skerrit Must Go Now
They did not make the decision to move out of Dominica. That decision was made by the heads of the school and it was made as a result of the incompetence of our government. Many of the students were not happy with this move from the moment it was announced.
Sense out of nonsense, we could easily name you ‘nonsense out of sense’ because you take what is sensible and by the time you are through with your verbiage, sense is transformed into NONESENSE!
What befell DA during Maria was purely and simply an act of God, and compared to PUERTO RICO and the USVI who have the backing of an economic superpower, USA, Dominica recovered very well, faster than PR and USVI. Ross management thought they could leverage their power and play one Caribbean Government against another for maximum financial outcome. It is going to backfire on them in dramatic fashion and things will eventually work out to DA’s competitive advantage. This Bajan debacle could have very high promotional value for DA if we craft and implement the right strategic response..