KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Wanita MCA has set up a new education loan fund to aid needy and deserving students in the state.
Its chairman Datuk Dr Pamela Yong (pic) said the TARC-MCA Sabah Wanita Student Loan Fund would also be interest-free, as is the case with the party’s national TAR-UMT Student Loan Fund created in 1979.
“It will be a revolving fund accessible to Sabah students who are financially disadvantaged,” she added.
Dr Yong said Sabah Wanita MCA would build the fund annually to ensure that more Sabah students benefit.
“It is our commitment that Sabah students benefit from the fund as education plays an important role in nation-building and helping people get out of poverty,” she said during the wing’s state meeting held here over the weekend.
Dr Yong said the MCA remained committed to providing education for all Malaysians, citing the setting up of the Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology (TAR-UMT) branch campus in Sabah offering tertiary education to 3,000 students.
“The fees are also 40% cheaper than other institutes of higher learning. The MCA believes that affordable quality education should be accessible to all Malaysians, including Sabahans.
“We went as far as setting up a native student bursary because we want to ensure that they have access to education,” she added.
She said the national TAR-UMT Student Loan Fund was created to help needy and deserving students pursue as well as complete their tertiary education.
The revolving loan fund was raised through donations by alumni, corporations, foundations, philanthropists and well-meaning Malaysians.
Currently, over 100 donor loan funds have been established with 15,000 loans worth over RM65mil awarded interest-free.
Dr Yong said graduates were encouraged to repay their loans promptly to enable the student loan fund to continue providing loans to incoming and current students.
For the current academic year, she said the TAR-UMT Student Loan Fund offered loans to 25 students totalling RM346,000, with bursary scholarships for 13 needy and indigenous Sabah students amounting to RM380,000.
“Since 2016, bursary scholarships have benefited 37 Sabah students with a total of RM860,000 disbursed,” she added.
