ALOR STAR: A cabinet paper has been prepared by Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) to propose that certain constraints by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) on study loans, including payment period and interest percentage be reviewed and studied to benefit students.
Mara chairman Tan Sri Annuar Musa said that currently under the BNM policy, study loans are treated the same as personal loans and thus can be a huge burden to graduates.
"Those students who are taking study loans under the Mara Bank for instance will have to pay their loans within 10 years just like a personal loan, regardless of the amount of loan taken. This can be a huge burden to the graduates especially those who took large loans as they will be forced to repay a higher amount monthly.
"I hope that several policies under BNM will be reviewed so that it does not burden the students.
"Students should be given more flexibility to repay their study loans such as by stretching the payment period up to 20 years and allow them to pay in several stages with less than RM1,000 per month," said Annuar.
Annuar who is also Umno information chief said this at the Umno office at Bangunan Tunku here where he is scheduled to have a meeting with all Kedah Umno division and wings' information chiefs.
He also dismissed allegations that Mara had stopped its scholarship and was no longer accepting new applications.
"I admit we do have problems and that there are delays in approving new applications for scholarships for July and September intake, but we are still providing scholarships to students.
"We receive RM2 billion yearly to provide sponsorship to students and usually we will only spent about RM1.7 billion for a total of 75,000 existing recipients while the remaining RM300 million will be spent on newly approved applicants.
"However, with the weakening of ringgit, and with many of our recipients currently studying overseas, the RM2 billion is only enough for the existing 75,000 existing recipients," he said, adding that Mara is in the midst of preparing a cabinet paper on the issue they are facing.
Meanwhile, on allegations that there were students at Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) who were forced to quit their studies due to financial problems, Annuar said Mara was still willing to offer the students a scholarship.
"I have talked to the president of UniKL on Friday. If it is true that there are such cases, the students should be called back and I will approve a scholarship for them.
"No students under Mara should quit their studies simply because their parents are too poor. This is what Umno has been fighting for all these years," he said.