Disadvantaged students set to get half a billion dollars in loans this year

VietNamNet Bridge – The Government is to provide student loans totalling half a billion dollars this year to disadvantaged students, an education conference in the capital heard yesterday.

Students fill out loan application forms at the Viet Nam Social Policy Bank.

The announcement followed last year's decision by the Government to make loans more accessible to those in education, the Social Policy Bank said.

Since the Government's Decision No 157 was enacted last September, VND2.5tril (US$156.6mil) had been disbursed to students, the bank said, adding that the sum was in stark contrast to the mere VND300bil lent to disadvantaged students a year ago.

The bank's deputy director, Nguyen Van Ly, attributed the success of the new scheme to the fact that the repayment terms were longer and the interest, rates lower than those previously offered.

Under the new decision, the maximum credit a student can receive per academic year has been increased from VND3mil ($188) to VND8mil ($500), while the monthly interest rate has been lowered by 0.15% to 0.5%.

Since the new loan terms were offered three months ago, nearly 600,000 students had applied for credit, the bank said.

The majority of those applying to borrow money were either orphans, from poor households, or facing financial difficulties as a result of accidents, natural disasters or pandemics, the bank said.

While lauding the Government's new loans' policy, participants at the conference said the maximum loan amount was insufficient to cover a student's expenses.

They also said that the number of poor students in mountainous areas, particularly Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands), benefiting from the loan programme remained modest.

Others pointed out that as borrowers would not have to start making serious loan repayments until they'd finished their courses, which typically last four to five years, the Government would in effect be out of pocket by some VND25tril for the next five years.

Speaking at the conference, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister, of Education and Training Nguyen Thien Nhan said the bank, employers, and relevant authorities needed to co-ordinate effectively to ensure loans were fully repaid.

He suggested the bank reduce the amount of money lent to student teachers as they were already exempted from paying tuition fees by the Government.

(Source: Viet Nam News)