GEORGE TOWN: Most college students are happy with Budget 2019 especially on the repayment of the National Higher Education Fund (PTPTN) loan and the petrol subsidy.
Mariana Mohd Nazri, 22, felt that it was a burden for students to pay back the PTPTN loan with a salary of RM1,000.
“As we can barely survive, how are we to pay back the loan?”
“We still have our rent to pay and our daily expenses,” she said.
Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said the option of payment through deductions of between 2% and 15% from the borrower’s salary, based on their monthly income rate, would only be applicable to borrowers earning more than RM1,000 a month.
Mariana is also grateful that the government would be subsidising the petrol for RON95 users.
“It is quite pricey for me to travel from Bayan Lepas to George Town to attend classes everyday,” the college student said.
She said the money that she saved would be used for her living expenses.
Marketing executive S. Devaraj, 34, said he spent RM500 on petrol every month.
“Any subsidy for petrol is great news. I depend heavily on my car as a mode of transport to work,” he said when met at a petrol station in Penang Road.
Lim announced that the government has allocated RM2bil for subsidy on RON95 petrol by 30 sen per litre limited to 100 litres monthly for cars below 1,500cc, and up to 40 litres for motorcycles below 125cc starting second quarter of next year, benefiting four million cars and 2.6mil motorcyclists.
Meanwhile, T. Resshadreenath, 21, lauded the move to allocate funds for e-sports.
“This is a great opportunity for student gamers like me to join in e-games competition,” the avid League of Legends gamer said.
“We get to learn something new through e-games.”
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