The final date to apply for interest-free student loans has been extended by one week at the request of the Minister of higher education and highways Kabir Hashim said secretary to the Ministry of Higher Education and Highways D. C. Dissanayake.
Accordingly, students are eligible to send applications until March 20, 2018. The secretary has therefore requested students to take the reap the benefits of this opportunity.
Under the student loan scheme, banks will grant loans for the students to follow educational programs in eight non-government higher education institutions which were approved by the Ministry of Higher Education.
The students are eligible to apply for an Rs. 800 000 loan that can be attributed to a four-year program or Rs 600 000 for a three-year program with the addition of a Rs 75 000 loan for further educational expenses in both schemes.
The interest for these loans will be paid by the government and loan can be settled after one year from the graduation date by the students.
The student loan scheme was introduced by the present government for the benefit of the students who were not selected for the state universities, however, sufficient applications had not been received by students.
Therefore Higher Education and Highways Minister Kabir Hashim has decided to give more time for the benefits of the students the Secretary said.