KMI (Kredit Mahasiswa Indonesia) / Indonesian Student Loans By: Anastasia Winayanti

According to the company profile that I have made, which is about PT Bank Artha Graha Internasional, Tbk., I happened to come up with an idea of project which is called Indonesian Student Loans or in Indonesian, Kredit Mahasiswa Indonesia (KMI).

Basically, KMI is not a new thing; it had actually been done during the New Order era (Orde Baru), around the year 1980s, in which the education budget had not been allocated 20% from the APBN (state budget). However, the program was stopped during the Reformation era, merely because the payment was stuck, so that the bank was unwilling and inflicted to financial loss.

At the moment, the government has no special programs like Indonesian student loans, especially for students who need funds for school operations, such as essay writing, research, or tuition.

College parties have so far been relying on the provision of scholarships to help students who are not able to overcome the problem of college costs. There is no policy to help students through soft loans or credit.

Granting loans for students can be done by universities in cooperation with the bank. It's just that this policy is highly dependent on the creativity of each college.

Previously there had been indeed such loans, but it was stopped. Perhaps because there were many students who forgot to pay the installments and repay the loan after graduation and got a job.

The institute in cooperation with banks and provide recommendations that eligible students are given credit. Then the banks will provide loans with collateral, for example, certificates. There are many schemes that can be done, but a case by case basis. In principle, there should be no students who dropped out (DO) because of economic problems.

Nationally, the current government does not have a credit scheme for students. A number of universities have worked with alumni or with private companies or industry through corporate social responsibility (CSR) on a small scale.

Loans or soft loans for college students are getting increasingly urgent as the government realized the high cost of higher education. Soft loans are to prevent prospective college students to quit pursuing higher education.

Credit or soft loans to finance tuition is considered essential and could be considered for long-term needs of universities in getting quality students. This method is considered to provide greater opportunities to students in high school level or equivalent for higher education opportunities.

A commitment to advance the nation through higher education should ideally be supported by providing a budget of at least 1 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). Indonesia is still around 0.23 per cent, while Malaysia is more than 2 percent.

In addition to providing high-quality education, it should be guaranteed for all levels of society can enjoy higher education. In fact, the cost of higher education in Indonesia is increasingly expensive and the poor people have trouble to fulfill it.

To develop soft student loans, as applied in many other countries, could be one solution to help students who have a cost constraint. Therefore, there should be policies from the government. That could be realized by encouraging state-owned banks to be able to provide soft loans. STUDENT FINANCING

Through the National Student Funds Program (Dana Siswa Bangsa), Siswa Bangsa provides long-term soft loans for education to its students in high schools under the auspices of Putera Sampoerna Foundation (PSF), the Sampoerna School of Business (SSB) and the Sampoerna School of Education (SSE).

The majors listed in the SSB include Management and Accounting, while the SSE is the Mathematics and English. This year, as many as 75 students of SSB and 75 students 0f SSE has taken this opportunity.

The amount borrowed was 300 million (rupiah) for SSB and 169 million (rupiah) to the SSE. The loan is given to students during their four-year study period.

During studies, students are not burdened with any costs associated with mandatory or extracurricular activities, and even training. All costs will be borne and paid directly into their respective high schools without going through the student.

The obligation to pay student loans begins after graduation and work, which can be repaid between 11 to 14 years. And to get it, they were selected tightly, in both academic and economic conditions.

As a mediator of financing, Koperasi Siswa Bangsa applies a percentage system. The students who have graduated will pay a loan amounting to 25 percent of their salary, so the amount of monthly payment will follow the progress of their income. Funds will be returned then fully rotated back to help finance students

from the latter generation. So far, the student financing program had been implemented only in PSF. Siswa Bangsa has considerate to do an expansion to other universities outside of PSF.

In principle, student financing is a system of spinning money. That's how open access to the sustainability of the broader student financing. Students borrowed this money and returned it later to be used again to finance generation of younger siblings or below it.

For a further and mutual agreement on this student financing program and to prevent the chance of financial loss, it is also possible to create an official tie of hiring program for the students who has not paid the loan when he/she is graduated. The monthly salary could be directly cut to make sure that the loan is paid by the student.

As stated above, the rough estimation of the funds for this program is around 100 to 300 million rupiah, depending on the amount of students, the majors, and the period of study. The terms for student loans probably not as tight as scholarship, but several regulations are also applied, for example the maximum period for a student loan is for four-year period of study, no more than that. If the period occurs to be more, than the loan will automatically be stopped. This is also to avoid financial loss, in order to teach an image that education is important and does not come in a cheap price, especially nowadays.

References: http://lipsus.kompas.com/topikpilihan/read/2010/08/05/17495456/Mencicil.Tanggung.Jawab.Mahasiswa http://lipsus.kompas.com/topikpilihan/read/2010/08/05/14533593/Rektor.ITS.Kredit.Itu.Bebani.Mahasiswa http://lipsus.kompas.com/topikpilihan/read/2010/08/05/13582957/Kuliah.Sekarang..Bayarnya.Setelah.Kerja http://lipsus.kompas.com/topikpilihan/read/2010/08/05/12393143/Sori..Tak.Ada.Kredit.Uang.Kuliah... http://lipsus.kompas.com/topikpilihan/read/2010/08/05/11302016/Student.Financing..Solusi.Biaya.Kuliah http://lipsus.kompas.com/topikpilihan/read/2010/08/05/10202986/Mendesak..Kredit.untuk.Mahasiswa http://lipsus.kompas.com/topikpilihan/read/2010/08/03/14482917/Yang.Miskin.Susah.Kuliah...