THE National Higher Education Fund (PTPTN) has collected RM6.23 billion from 1.13 million borrowers, Maszlee Malik said in Parliament. 

The education minister told lawmakers the collection was from 2013 to May this year.

Borrowers in the age bracket of 20-29 accounted for the highest amount of repayment, accounting for about RM3.3 billion of the total collection.

This was followed by those aged between 30 and 39 at RM2.65 billion.

Maszlee said the ministry put out a consultation paper between May 16 and June 13 to garner feedback from the public on the best mechanism for PTPTN loan repayments.

“The findings will be reviewed by a special advisory panel to determine the best proposal for the repayment mechanism.

“This will then be presented to the cabinet for approval.”

The Simpang Renggam MP said the findings will be presented to the cabinet in August.

Meanwhile, Shahar Abdullah (Paya Besar-BN) asked if the welfare of borrowers will be taken care of in the event they’re blacklisted again and if their future borrowings, including housing loans, will be affected. 

Shahar also asked how the ministry intends to control fee hikes in universities.

To this, Maszlee said the blacklist previously in force has not been reinstated, adding that all such queries will be included in the consultation paper. – July 15, 2019.