PETALING JAYA: Only students whose parents receive the 1Malaysia People’s Aid (BR1M) will get the full PTPTN education loan as the National Higher Education Fund Corporation tightens its belt.
The move, which took effect on Saturday, also sees a 5% reduction in loans for students in public institutions of higher learning and a 15% reduction for students in private institutions.
PTPTN chairman Datuk Shamsul Anuar Nasarah said that starting last Saturday, BR1M was the only vetting system that would be used to ascertain the eligibility for the maximum amount.
“They will be given 75% of the maximum loan amount if (their) monthly household income does not exceed RM8,000.
“For those whose monthly income exceeds that amount, they will receive 50% of the maximum loan amount,” he said in an interview yesterday.
The full loan for a diploma course in a public university is now reduced to RM4,750 from RM5,000 while a degree is now RM6,180 from RM6,500.
For a diploma in a private college, the full loan is now reduced to RM6,800 from RM8,000.
In a circular dated Oct 29 to public and private institutions of higher learning, PTPTN chief executive officer Agos Cholan said the reduction did not affect students pursuing a bachelor’s degree in medicine because of their higher fees.
Shamsul said with the constraints, PTPTN had no other option but to either reduce the number of students receiving the loans by 50,000 or reduce the loan amount.
“PTPTN chose the second option so that the number of student loan recipients would remain (the same),” he said.
Rude shock for students eyeing PTPTN loans
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