The Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina made a decision in late August this year to abolish the Student Loan Fund. Although this information provoked various reactions, according to the information of the Federal Ministry of Education and Science, this is not bad information for students because the funds for loans will be increased, N1 writes.
As a reason for the abolition of the Fund, the Federal Government stated that in recent years the Fund has less and less achieved the goal and purpose for which it was established in 2006. At the last session, the representative of the House of Representatives of the FBiH Parliament, Damir Masic, asked the parliamentary question to the Government of the Federation of BiH why it abolished this Fund and on the basis of which analyzes.
“On the basis of which analysis, assessment and effects, the Government entered into that arrangement at all and made the decision that the only benefit that students had from that same Federation, which is why one such program was abolished,” Masic asked.
In the Decision, the Government of Federation of BiH stated that the support to students through this Fund was reduced almost to classic lending, which is why there were less and less interested students, and the Fund did not provide any other type of income.
On the other hand, the Fund’s budget was reduced from year to year, which means that there were no significant investments. The Federal Ministry of Education and Science told N1 that the work and activities on taking over the Fund’s work are in progress, and that the planned deadlines are being respected. According to earlier information, the transfer of powers and jobs should be done within 60 days, ie by the beginning of November.
“By taking over the work of the Student Loan Fund from the Ministry, the funds of the Fund should continue to be available to students, and even increased, for example, for material and other costs of the Fund’s Board of Directors, etc. education, ie employees of the Ministry within the framework of regular affairs, using material and other funds of the Federal Ministry of Education and Science, with the aim of further financial support to students in the Federation of BiH “, they explained from this Ministry.
The goal of establishing the Fund was to encourage the provision of money, support and enabling students to study at universities in the Federation of BiH.
The highest number of loans was granted in 2010 – 669, and most of the beneficiaries were the best students who were exempted from repaying loans due to a good average.
The problem is that the budget of this Fund has been reduced from year to year, so with one million BAM, as much as they had in 2010, from 2013 it amounted to only 300,000 BAM, and last year it amounted to 220,000 BAM.
This year, the funds were completely abolished. The fund offered interest-free earmarked funds in the amount of 2,500 BAM, and students were obliged to repay that debt upon termination or completion of studies.
