The ministries of Higher Education and Finance have boosted the monthly stipend fund for male and female university students. The Ministry of Finance approved the increase in allocations by SR1.5 billion, according to the male and female students' lists for universities lacking money to pay the stipends after community colleges were included within several universities, according to sources. In the last two months, the inclusion caused a deficit in the funds allocated for monthly stipends because the number of male and female students increased; universities in several regions delayed payment of students' stipends for the months of Jumad Al-Thani and Rajab, sources said. The allocated amount, SR1.5 billion, will be distributed among 1.5 million male and female students, according to sources. Nearly SR80 million has been allocated for Hail University as two months' stipends for its 25,000 male and female students, according to a source who said they would be paid on Sunday and Monday. There are 24 Saudi government universities that benefit from the Ministry of Finance; the 2011 state budget allocation for higher education and manpower training is SR150 billion, representing 26 percent of expenditures in the budget and an 8-percent increase over allocations in last year's budget. In the field of higher education, the general budget for last year included projects for completing construction of campuses for several universities with an estimated cost of SR9 billion. Expenditures for opening 10 new colleges have been approved and work is underway to build residences for the universities' teaching staff at a cost of SR8.9 billion. __
