EVERY year, 200,000 Malaysian students, including those from rural areas and underprivileged backgrounds, are given the opportunity to further their education with loan schemes from the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN).

Since its inception in 1997, PTPTN has approved loans for 2.17 million students, of which 17,387 have been exempted from repaying their loans for having graduated with first class honours.

In addition, 615,538 students have received Cash Advance Financing, a one-off RM1,500 payment intended to help ease the financial burden of students in equipping themselves before enrolling in university.

Nevertheless, inflation and the continued rising costs of higher education are a reality.

This is why the government launched the National Education Savings Scheme (SSPN-i) to encourage Malaysian parents to plan ahead and start saving early towards their children’s higher education.

The SSPN-i account boasts competitive dividend rates, an opportunity to lower annual income tax payments and a minimum deposit of only RM20 to open.

As of March 31 this year, 1,555,390 SSPN-i accounts have been opened, with a total deposit amount of RM876.94 mil.

To further encourage this movement, as stipulated in Budget 2013, the government has raised the tax relief for net savings from RM3,000 to RM6,000 per annum.

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