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Published on February 13, 2008

The Office of Higher Education Commission (OHEC) secretary-general Dr Sumet Yamnoon yesterday met with Student Loan Fund manager Thada Martin to discuss the relaunch.

Introduced by the Thaksin government, the income-contingent loan (ICL) scheme attracted 315,186 students in the first semester of the 2006 academic year. "The government spent Bt4.26 billion that semester," Sumet said. "In the second semester that same year, the government spent another Bt3.38 billion on the scheme".

To revive the scheme, Sumet said the Student Loan Fund should have Bt4.33 billion. "The ICL scheme may go into effect again during the second semester of the 2008 academic year," he added.

Thada said the relaunch should not face any problems if the government provided an adequate budget. "The main reason the ICL scheme was initially scrapped was because it required huge funding," he said, adding the government should provide clear guidelines on who is eligible so that the budget is well spent.

When the ICL was launched two years ago, any student could apply for a loan regardless of their family's financial status.

However, the currently available student-loan programmes only offer soft loans to students from low-income families.

In his capacity as the chair of the University Presidents Council of Thailand, Naresuan University president Mondhon Sanguan-sermsri said students should be told at least three months in advance whether the ICL scheme will be relaunched.

The Nation