More than 20,000 lawsuits are filed each year and the graduates - who are mostly unemployed and cannot repay their debts - had to rely on their parents to pay lawyers' fees of about Bt5,000, said Judge Woranat Sangmai who presided over the launch.

"If the SLF, the graduates and their parents could negotiate a settlement, it would reduce the burden for both sides," he said, adding that the scheme would be implemented as a pilot in six provinces including Si Sa Ket.

SLF director for corporate relations Winyu Kawinkham said the fund had filed fewer lawsuits in the past year because it was happy with the increasing rate (now 70 per cent) of repayment. He said he believed that would increase to 88 per cent this year and in order to help reduce expenses for overdue debtors, the SLF would support out-of-court settlements.

He said income-contingent loans - designed to come into force this year - would be open to all higher-education students, not just the poor, and debtors would only have to repay their loans after they began earning more than Bt16,000 a month.

The Nation

Si Sa Ket