Pamela
KOTA KINABALU (Sept 22): MCA Sabah Women will be setting up an education loan fund for Sabahan youths.
“We will name it TARC – MCA Sabah Wanita Student Loan Fund. It will be an interest-free revolving fund accessible to Sabah students regardless of who they are as long as they are underprivileged and financially disadvantaged,” said MCA Sabah Women chief Datuk Dr Pamela Yong.
Dr Pamela in her speech at the movement’s annual general meeting on Saturday, said that MCA Sabah Wanita will continue to raise and build on this fund annually to ensure more Sabah children can benefit from this education fund.
“MCA Sabah Wanita pledges to raise and build on the TAR UMT Student Loan Fund annually to ensure more Sabahan students can benefit from it because education is the ticket out of poverty and builds the nation,” she said.
This, she said, is MCA’s commitment to Sabah’s future generation.
“This unwavering commitment of MCA towards education even in Sabah is seen with the setting up of a TARUMT branch Sabah. A purpose-built campus to catering 3,000 students offering tertiary education with fees about 40 per cent cheaper than any other IPTS.
“This very place where our meeting is held today is borne of MCA’s belief 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,” said Pamela.
She disclosed that the TAR UMT Student Loan Fund was established in 1979 to help needy and deserving students to pursue and complete tertiary education. It is a revolving loan fund, whereby its funding comes from monetary donations contributed by alumni, corporations, foundations, philanthropists and well-meaning Malaysians from all walks of life.
Currently, over 100 donor loan funds have been established and over 15,000 loans worth more than RM65 million have been awarded to needy and deserving students. All student loans are interest-free.
Graduates are encouraged to repay their loans promptly so as to enable the student loan fund to continue to provide loans to in-coming and current students.
