Xavier School of Medical left for the Curaçao island. I’m not certain, but I was told that the Dutch government told that medical school to leave the island due to the lack of accreditation or something, I could be wrong though. And SJSM was also given free land in Bonaire, by the Dutch government, to build a brand new campus as it expands. But instead, we got the new building which where the students of MD1, MD2, and Pre-Med1 are. Xavier is also to be renamed to Avalon School of Medicine since the name “Xavier” with the same logo belongs to another medical school in Aruba.
Anyways moving on with the topic, ever since Xavier Medical School left, there have been minor changes on the island. Chicago office told us that the Dutch government gave them the report that, just the students of Bonaire, makes the island $6 million annually. Now that’s a big amount of money just from students. It’s kind of hard to believe but one of the students told me that he already spent $100,000 for tuition and staying in Bonaire. Plus after every block exams, students hold end of block parties and some spend over $100 in beer so, yeah $6 million from us student to Bonaire is believable. Bonaire does not generate any marginal profit. Holland actually has to put money into the island in order to keep the Bonaire’s economy running. Therefore, it’s in the best interest of the Netherlands to keep Saint James School of Medicine, because it’s over 10 years old and it has a good number of accreditations.
Apartments are Cheaper
Since the Xavier students left, even though they are smaller bunch than us SJSM students, the landlords will take whatever they get. Medical students stay on the island all year around, while tourists come and stay for couple of weeks and leave. Therefore, it’s in the best interest of the landlords to rent to the medical students. I know a three bedroom place, which was about around $2100 lowered to around $1600, after Xavier left. And that price includes all the utilities such as water, electricity, internet, and cable. Real estate companies are getting it hard because they used to charge students like crazy such as a 1 bedroom place, which is very small by the way, with kitchen and bathroom for $915 and that does NOT include the utilities. However, now the landlords took over their places and lowered the prices.