THE National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) received RM558.9 million in loan repayments from January to March.

Public relations and management council senior general manager Abdul Ghaffar Yusof said the amount should be RM300 million a month, but the average amount received was between RM150 million and RM180 million.

“The status of payments is still below the target set. The total amount collected should have been RM4 billion for the whole of last year.

“There are no issues with borrowers who pay through salary deductions. However, there are still borrowers who have not made any payment,” he told reporters after the prize-giving ceremony for the PTPTN Debt-Free Competition 2018/2019 in Kuala Lumpur today.

In his speech earlier, Ghaffar said as of last month, the outstanding amount involving 350,000 defaulters stood at RM6.5 billion.

Also as of last month, PTPTN had approved loans for more than three million borrowers, totalling RM56 billion.

“This amount is increasing every year, and PTPTN needs to have huge funds – RM4 billion a year – to ensure that all future students can enjoy loans.

“However, the amount in repayments received is only 58% out of the total that should be collected.”

Former Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman student Looi Pek Chuan won the PTPTN Debt-Free Competition, organised by YouthsToday.com, and took home prize money totalling RM33,709.19.

Looi, from Pulau Pangkor, Perak, made 10,974 transactions via the GoPay app. – Bernama, May 29, 2019.