Further to our message of November 12, 2014, please consider this message as confirmation that your name was not included on the Ministry's Quarter 4, 2014 Monthly Living Allowance (MLA) List. In our previous message, we indicated that CBIE is expecting to receive an additional transfer from the Ministry for MLA adjustments. Upon receipt of the MLA adjustments list and funds, CBIE will contact affected students and release the funds immediately.

We have included below Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to answer some of the common questions you may have:

Q: Why is my name not on the Quarter 4 MLA List?

A: The following are some reasons that students’ names might not appear on the Q4 list:

• Students who froze their scholarship during a period of time prior to April 2013 resulted in a discrepancy between the CBIE scholarship end date and the Ministry’s scholarship end date.

• Students who were recently approved for Master’s to PhD/Specialized where the Ministry has issued decree but has not transferred the funds yet.

• New students who have activated their scholarship over the past year and who have not yet been added to the Ministry Quarter MLA Budget.

• In some cases, there is no clear reason why a student is missing from the list – your dates may still be valid with the Ministry and with CBIE, yet your name is not on the Quarter 4 list for reasons that we do not understand.

Q: I am a new student, what steps is the Ministry taking to add my name to the MLA Quarter budget?

A: The Ministry is currently processing additional MLA budget lists on behalf of new students who have been activated this past year. These lists are expected to include outstanding MLAs for the 2014 academic year.

CBIE has received a copy of the first official list from the Ministry and we are pleased to confirm that your name has been included on this list. We understand that this budget transfer is currently being processed by the Ministry of Finance and we will communicate with affected students and process the outstanding MLAs as soon as the funds have been received by CBIE.

Q: What steps is CBIE taking to address the MLA discrepancies?

A: Each quarter, CBIE submits a report to the Ministry listing all of the discrepancy cases by name. The report includes sub-categories for the discrepancies, such as “original scholarship still valid,” or “freeze/adjustment of dates,” for example, to assist the Ministry in reconciling the MLA Quarter budget lists.

We are pleased to report that the number of discrepancies affecting the students in the United States is decreasing each quarter. As well, in recent discussions with the Ministry, there is intent to clear all discrepancies affecting scholarship students. CBIE will continue to work closely with Ministry officials as we work towards meeting this objective.

Q: When can I expect CBIE to transfer my Quarter 4 MLA funds to my bank account?

A: CBIE is closely tracking students who have been affected by discrepancies. Over the past year, we have cleared most 2013 discrepancy MLA payments as well as Quarter 1, 2014 discrepancy payments.

We are hopeful that we will be in a position to issue Quarter 2, Quarter 3 and Quarter 4 discrepancy payments over the coming months, pending agreement with the Ministry and successful transfer of additional budgets to CBIE for core benefits such as health insurance and tuition fees for the 2014-2015 academic year. Both CBIE and the Ministry understand the urgency, and we are doing all we can to expedite a solution.

Sincerely,
The Libyan-North American Scholarship Program