Policy credit loans mitigate schooling hardship

For many years, the credit source from the Binh Duong Social Policy Bank has supported many students with difficult circumstances to pursue their dreams of studying and creating future employment opportunities.

Disbursements for customers borrowing loans for student and youth programs and other loan programs are carried out at a village transaction point

Benefited from preferential policy

The Decision No. 157/2007/QD-TTg on credit policies for students is applied to support students in difficult circumstances to cover the costs of studying and living during their time at school, including tuition fees, expenses for buying books, learning materials, food, accommodation, and transportation. Accordingly, the borrowers include students from poor households and nearly-poor households, families facing financial adversity due to disasters, diseases, and pandemics, and students derived of nurturing parents with preferential interest rates.

The method of lending to students is carried out through their families. The representative of the family is the person who directly borrows money and is responsible for repaying the Social Policy Bank. In the case of orphaned students who have lost both parents or only one parent but the remaining parent is unable to work, they can directly borrow money from the Social Policy Bank at the location where the school is headquartered.

Thanks to the preferential credit policy for students, in recent years, many households in the province have benefited from this preferential credit policy. Accordingly, the Binh Duong Social Policy Bank has coordinated with associations and organizations to guide the procedures for households in difficult circumstances to borrow money to cover the expenses for students at the beginning of the school year. As of September 2024, the total outstanding debt of the student loan program of the Social Policy Bank in Binh Duong province is 266 billion dong, with 5,293 households borrowing capital. Many students who have borrowed money after graduation have stable jobs and sufficient income to repay the principal and interest to the bank.

To share the burden of tuitions

Family of Ngo Ngoc Huyen Tran in Thuan An city is one of the households that have access to credit from the Social Policy Bank Branch in Thuan An city for poor students. To fulfill the dream of stepping forward on the university path, in 2020, when my child received the admission letter to Van Lang University, I was worried about how to afford their education. They were delighted to be considered for a preferential credit loan from the Social Policy Bank of Thuan An city, with a total amount of 130 million VND for 4 years of study. “My family is very grateful for this humanitarian policy, because without that funding, my child's pursuit of higher education would be very difficult. Throughout the 4 years of university, the student credit funding has reduced the burden on our family every time it comes to paying for their education," said Mrs. Ha happily.

Mr. Vo Van Duc, Director of the Social Policy Bank of Binh Duong province, said that recently, the source of preferential loans for students in Binh Duong province has always been guaranteed and meets the needs of borrowers. According to regulations, each household can borrow 4 million dong per month, and during 1 academic year, students can borrow a total of 40 million dong, with an interest rate of 0.55% per month and 6.6% per year; the repayment period is implemented according to the current regulations of the Social Policy Bank. Monitoring and review show that most borrowers use the capital for the intended purposes with interest payments and capital repayment made in full and seriously.

To promote the achieved results, in the remaining months of 2024, the Social Policy Bank of Binh Duong province will continue to coordinate with local authorities, political and social organizations, savings and loan associations to facilitate access to preferential credit for students and timely meet the needs of eligible families.

Reported by Tuong Vy – Translated by Vi Bao