Sarawak student disqualified from loan repayment initiative for repaying too early

SIBU: A university student is dismayed that he has been excluded from the Yayasan Sarawak (YS) PTPTN loan repayment incentive for paying almost half of his National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) loan too early.

Under the incentive, the state government will subsidise 30% of the balance for graduates who have already paid at least 30% of their loans. It does this through Yayasan Sarawak.

"However, this student's name was not included in the list provided by PTPTN to Yayasan Sarawak. This is not the fault of the Sarawak Government as the list of benefactors was decided by PTPTN," said Bukit Assek assemblyman Joseph Chieng on Wednesday (Jan 10).

Chieng said the student was faulted for not paying the amount "at the right time". The student claimed he had paid 45% of the loan in 2021 after graduating. He did this within 12 months of receiving the entire loan.

"It seems that he had paid the amount too early. It shows that he is a responsible payer. Instead of rewarding his initiative by qualifying for the incentive, he has been penalised. Settling the loan should be encouraged and not punished," he said.

Chieng said he visited the PTPTN Sibu office on Tuesday (Jan 9) and was told by its branch manager, Nurulhuda Abdul Wahid, that to qualify for the incentive, borrowers have to settle 30% of their loan after they had completed their studies and within the repayment period set by PTPTN.

She said the student paid it before the repayment schedule was issued. This schedule is issued 12 months after the loan disbursement period.

She told him that there were two such cases here. He believed there could be more throughout the state.

"I will bring up this matter to the attention of our Premier (Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg) and PTPTN, hoping that the criteria for the incentive should be revised," he added.

Chieng also quoted PTPTN chairman Datuk Norliza Abdul Rahim, who said more than 3,000 Sarawak graduates had benefited from the incentive totalling RM12.43mil in 2023 alone.

Since its inception in 2019, more than 25,000 Sarawak graduates have benefited from the incentives amounting to RM90.42mil.