Interest-free loans for Higher Education in Non-State Universities
View(s):The Treasury has granted approval to offer loans for 5,000 students in Non-State Universities (NSU) and Higher Education Institutions (HEI), under a Government proposal to promote the Education sector.
The students will be able to obtain an interest-free loan up to Rs 800,000, repayable in 12 years, with a 4-year grace period, according to of Higher Education Ministry (HEM) Additional Secretary (NSU) K.R. Uduwawala
Students will be able to apply online for the loans, which will be issued through State banks.
The HEM also held discussions with some of the NSUs and HEIs to lower their course fees, to enable more students to apply for their courses.
The HEM will review the facilities, syllabuses, course features etc, before approving the loans for selected institutions.
The scheme was introduced to encourage more students to follow Higher Education leading up to a Degree, as, under the current system, though more than 100,000 students qualify to enter Universities, less than 25,000 enter Universities due to limited placements.
In the 2016-’17 batch, 136,421 students were eligible to enter Universities.
- Damith Wickremasekara