This year, the Education Ministry launched the income-contingent loan (ICL) programme for university students, which allows loan recipients to repay only when their monthly income reaches Bt16,000 a month.

However, the loan recipients have to pay interest equivalent to the inflation rate - calculated from the time the loan was granted.

The ICL programme is open to all university students, regardless of their financial status.

The launch of ICL ended the loan programme designed for university students from low-income families, which offered soft loans and required the loan recipients to repay two years after their graduation. Under this programme, the interest rate was calculated two years after graduation.

Although this programme became inaccessible to university students, it was still valid for senior-secondary-education students.

Wijit believes the merging of the two funds would make things easier for students, especially those who needed loans after their senior-secondary-education years.

Although the government provides 12 years of free education, students still need money to pay for other costs related to their studies.