Banks and universities have voiced the same concern that the narrowing of the programme on lending to poor university students will force many students out of schools. They strongly believe that the programme needs to be resumed in the same scale in order to fund students’ study.

Nguyen Van Ngoan from Ton Duc Thang University

Nguyen Van Ngoan from Ton Duc Thang University:

The demand for borrowing money from the Bank for Social Policies is very big. So far, about 8000 students of our university have expressed their will to borrow money from the bank this school year.

I think policy makers need to inform students and their parents in advance about any changes in the policy. I am afraid that many students will encounter difficulties because they do not have money to pay tuition. Meanwhile, universities will also encounter difficulties because the education program will be a mess.

The State should think of delaying the implementation of the new policy and I think it should be implemented in the second semester of the school year.

Tran Dinh Ly, MA, from the HCM City Agriculture and Forestry University

About 8000 students from our school need to borrow capital each year. Not too long ago we were so happy when we heard that all poor students could borrow money to maintain their studies. But now we are now worried because we heard that the subjects to the loans from the Bank for Social Policies will be narrowed.

A lot of universities and students are stunned by the sudden changes in the policy on lending to poor students. I know that maybe the bank is facing difficulties with capital sources, but such a sudden change proves to be unreasonable.

I know many poor students have cried when hearing the news, because they fear that they may have to drop-out of school.

Associate Professor Dr Tran Hoang Ngan, Deputy President of the HCM City Economics University

The programme on lending to poor students has been running smoothly and there is no reason for us to stop it. I think that we should use capital from different sources and we can mobilize capital from enterprises. Enterprises will use the labour force and they need to take responsibility for the development in human resources by contributing money to funds reserved for lending to poor students.

Besides, we can also think of seeking capital from other sources, including commercial banks, if we have reasonable mechanisms. The interest rates at which commercial banks lend to students may be higher than the loans provided by the Bank for Social Policies, but must be lower than the banks’ consumer interest rates.

Tran Van Tien, Deputy Director of the HCM City branch of the Bank for Social Policies

People will meet many difficulties with the sudden changes. By September 30, 548 billion dong had been disbursed to 51,598 students in HCM City. With the new decision, thousands of students in HCM City will not be able to continue taking out loans.

I think the State should seek more capital sources so as to have more capital to lend to students. The investment in education proves to be the best investment.

Source: Tuoi tre