How Can I fund education for my children ?
“Education is the birth right of every child and it is the key to the character
building of a noble person ”
A well-known proverb goes,”Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” There can be no greater gift than leaving your kids with the best university education you can afford.
The Chinese have a compelling way of describing this phenomenon:”Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere.”
Education costs have been escalating faster than the overall cost of living in most countries, including Malaysia. That’s why so many people feel that saving or generating enough money to pay for their kids’ tertiary education seems as unattainable to them as a tantalizing piece of cheddar dangling out of reach is to a lab rat.
Most parents still think that university education is too far away to be worried right now. There is plenty of time to plan, and child education can wait while money are spent on other things such as travel, new furniture, the car, golf, and a host of desirable items to enjoy. Sad to say, all these do not contribute to accumulating wealth or funds for child education.
When should you start planning for a child’s education? Ideally, as soon as the child is born. Don’t become alarmed if you haven’t started planning for your child’s college education. No matter what the child’s age, strategies are available to help you come up with the necessary funds. So what financial aid is available in the market?
1) Government Loan
Perbadanan Tabungan Pendidikan Tinggi Nasional (PTPTN) which are very familiar name when speak about study loan. Courses qualified under this scheme are mostly undergraduate courses offered by local colleges and university while Master and PhD courses are limited at time being. The advantage of the scheme is that the interest is relatively low at about 2%.
2) Study Loan
Usually offered by financial institutions. As the loans usually are unsecured which have contribute in increasing of non-payment by the borrowers. Most likely are people who borrowed to study abroad and did not return back to home country after finding a job there. This have make it hard to find a study loan from Financial Institutions.
3) Insurance policy loan
This loan require no collateral and no pay back required. The loan amount usually are up to 80% of the cash value of the policy and the loan amount are usually off-set during the policy maturity. Interest charge between 8% per annum.
4) Your property
Those home owner that has property which appreciate in value can consider to refinance their property which higher mortgage fund. Financial Institution usually will allowed financing up to 90% of the property value. Bank offering package from BLR-1.4% to BLR-2.4% which current BLR at 6.6%. Opt for flexible home loan which allowed to pay down loan and have withdrawal facilities, this will help to shorten the loan tenure and save on some interest.
5) Personal Loan
The last resort… as the interest charge is quite hefty between 8% to 24% which are calculated on flat rate. . Personal loan offer financing up to 5 times of monthly income without collateral.
“If you think education is expensive, try ignorance! ”
