Education Loan is a right of every student : Chidambaram

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has said that education loan is the right of every student, and public sector banks must deal with the situation seriously. Chidambaram also added that banks which reject a large number of applications would be penalized.

Chidambaram further added that the bank account is right of every individual, and reinstating that issue of education loan is close to his heart. Mr. Chidambaram also said that the decision of rejecting a loan can only be made by an officer ranked higher than the receiving officer.

This was his first meeting with the PSB chiefs since he assumed the office. The meeting discussed key agendas including timely disposal of applications, loans for diploma courses and loans for students under management quota.

"It is very important that every students who meets the parameter must get a loan because it's a right." Too many rejections of loan applications could result in action taken against the branch manager.

Foreign banks under pressure from RBI on priority lending

Reserve Bank of India's has directed foreign banks to maintain at least 40% of their total advances to priority sector has put a lot of strain on the banks in question. As per the order, the banks which have more than 20 branches would have to increase their priority lending from 32% to 40%.

Priority sector lending (PSL) includes sectors like farm loans, loans allied agricultural activities like food processing, educational loans,  Currently HSBC, Standard Chartered, Citibank, and Royal Bank of Scotland are the banks which have 20 or more branches.

These banks have however shown asked the RBI to allow more liberal licensing policy which would enable them to increase their reach and meet the PSL targets. RBI has set a deadline of 2018 for the banks to meet the targets.

Chandy seeks support from MPs to urge centre on issue of education loans

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has seeked for support of the MPs from the state to create pressure on the Union Government to reconsider thier decision of agreeing with Indian Banks' Association's (IBA) Model Educational Loans Scheme (MELS), which prevents students under 'management quota' to get education loans.

Mr. Chandy has been against the government's decision to allow revised MELS guidelines which would put the future of thousands of students at risk, and previously branded it as “discrimination.” Mr. Chandy further added that though the centre government may have approved IBA's decision to only provide education loans to meritorious students, but the state would not accept the same. He then asked the MPs of the state to protest and ask the center to reconsider its decision. 

Kerala forms a special committee for Education Loans complaints

Kerala Government has formed  special district level committees comprising of Members of Parliament (MP), Members of Legislative Assembly (MLA) and senior officials from banks to look over complaints received over education loans in the state.

The committee will listen to the complaints of applicants regarding wrongful rejection of loan application, refusal of top up loans, moratorium related ambiguities, et al. The meeting also suggested unification of interest rates offered by banks, and also students under management quota should not be denied access to credit.

There is a need of change in attitude of bank towards common man , said Mr. P.Rajiv, MP. He further added that education loans do not contribute much to slippages and NPA, it is the corporate loans which are to be blamed. However a bank official stated that some institutions offer institute offer low quality of education with unrealistic fees and banks find it difficult to advance credit to students in such colleges.

Kerala CM writes to FinMin to direct banks regarding education loans

Kerala CM Oommen Chandy recently wrote a letter to Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, who is also the Finance Minister to ask banks and Indian Banks' Association (IBA) to sanction education loans of students who have secured admissions in professional colleges in the state.

"There appears some difficulty for those candidates who have secured admission to these courses in the management quota to professional colleges here to get educational loans from the banks. When it comes to sanctioning educational loans, there should be no discrimination to those who secure admission in the management or merit quota," read the CM's letter.

This is one of the few issues on which the state assembly thinks in unison, when last month the entire state assembly wanted strict actions against banks which refuse loans to student who have secured their admissions in recognised professional colleges.

Students education loan for coaching classes.

With increasing competition for getting admissions into higher education in premier institutes across the country, there has been an increase in demand for educational loans not only for enrollment into the college, but also for getting coaching from good enterance test coaching centre.

CorporationBank has started lending to students in need of getting admission into coaching classes, while  Central Bank of India is another bank, which has taken lead in this relative new segment. The interest rates on these loans are comparable to that of education loans with the bank. The bank disburses the loan directly to the account of coaching centres authorized by the bank. Loans upto Rs. 200,000 to Rs. 400,000 can be taken and be repaid within 3 years with a 3 months moratorium.

The new product is targetted mainly towards students from rural areas, who aspire to get into good institutes, but do not have money to afford the coaching. These are unsecured loans and do not require any collateral, but require parent to become a co-borrower or have a salary account with the bank.

Pay through the nose and money down the drain for studying abroad

The declining value of rupee and economic slowdown has badly hit the students who are studying abroad or those who are planning to move abroad to pursue higher studies in terms of cost. Education from abroad is now a costlier affair, especially for the middle-class students. Applying for education loan has become essential.

“This condition has turned foreign education a luxury affair, not something for the middle class to have as parents need to pay more to send their children to good universities,” says Neha Racch, senior counselor at Apex Consultants.

“The impact is visible as there has been a 20 per cent decline in the number of students applying for higher courses in the US, the UK and other countries,” says Racch.
Strict visa norms and stringent immigration policies are some other factors making dream of education from abroad gloomy.