With changes made to eligibility requirements for student loans, thousands are unable to get them from the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies to pay their first-semester tuition fees.

Vietnam has been providing the loans for students suffering from financial difficulty to facilitate their studies at various levels – from vocational school through to college.

Under the old rules, students could get the loans by just getting local authorities to certify they are in financial difficulty.

But now they need to prove the difficulty was caused by an accident, disease, disaster, fire, or an outbreak of plague, according to Tran Van Tien, deputy director of the Vietnam Bank for Social Polices in Ho Chi Minh City.

Many students complained that the new requirements have made it tougher for them to get a loan.

“My mother has been trying her best for one month to get a loan from the government to repay money she had borrowed elsewhere to support my studies,” Pham Xuan Trung, a freshman at Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry, said.

“The bank in Quang Nam Province recently turned her down, saying my application did not meet its new requirements.”

Tran Phuong Khanh Mi, a vocational student at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Food, also lamented that her family could not borrow money from the local bank for social policies.

“My sister and I will probably not be allowed to take the exams if we cannot pay the tuition for this semester,” she said.

“Where can parents in dire straits like us get money to pay for our children’s education?” wondered An, a mother of two children who are studying in junior college and university in Ho Chi Minh City.

She cannot believe the lending policy has changed virtually overnight.

Some HCMC branches demanded interest in advance, Tien admitted.

The lending regulations only require borrowing students to start repaying the principal and interest not later than 12 months after graduation though the government encourages those who can to pay interest earlier.

The bank has granted loans worth VND3 trillion (US$145 million) since March, Vo Minh Hiep, deputy general director of the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies, said, adding it has managed to raise VND1.2 trillion through bonds out of the VND5 trillion needed for the second semester.

The government wants the Ministry of Finance and the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies to ensure before each semester there are enough funds for the loan program.

Two million students with financial difficulties obtained loans from the program between 2008 and 2010, according to official figures.

Source: Tuoi tre