Panjab University syndicate may double loan subsidy for self-financed courses

CHANDIGARH: The Panjab University syndicate, which is set to meet on December 7, might take a call on increasing the loan subsidy for self-financed courses from Rs 25,000 to Rs 50,000.
The agenda item of reviewing the merit-cum-means loan subsidy scheme will be tabled before the members to discuss the changes that vice-chancellor's committee has made to the scheme.One of the changes is to double the loan subsidy. On July 30, the committee had found that the scheme's corpus of Rs 1 crore had increased to Rs 1.92 crore after adding interest. It also found that in the year 2015-16, only one student had used the scheme. She studied computer science and application.
The committee was in favour of disbursing subsidy based on interest earned from the corpus. It proposed that this subsidy equal to 20% of the loan amount be disbursed subject to a cap of Rs 50,000. Eligible students will have family income below Rs 4.80 lakh a year. "The subsidy will be put into their bank account after the course, if they have secured 60% marks or equivalent grade and finished degree within specified duration," the committee proposed, changing the earlier guideline that mandated only no re-appear.
For being eligible, student must not take financial assistance from any other source. They must submit a certificate from the loan-sanctioning bank to say that it has disbursed the loan fully. The committee also proposed that in case the number of eligible students exceeded the corpus limit, the amount be released to them in order of merit.