A staff member helps Zhu Lin (right) apply for a student loan yesterday. Zhu has been enrolled at a broadcasting college in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province.

 

Shanghai government's student loans were up for grabs yesterday with only 22 applicants arriving in person. Another 40, however, registered their applications online which is the way tuition loans will be processed in the future.

 

Commission official Zhou Hongxing said: "We will contact the rest applicants and ask them to come to us as soon as possible." More applications will be taken on August 22.

 

The Shanghai Education Commission has established the country's first online tuition loan management system to handle all the loan applications and assessments, and keep track of the processing.

 

Needy high school graduates, no matter if they are admitted by a college in the city or the country, now have to pre-register on the commission's Website (www.shmec.gov.cn) before bringing their documents for inspection.

 

For those without Internet access, the commission has set aside a few computers at its offices and arranged special staff to help students with the registrations.

 

This simplification of the loan process has cut the average application time from 25 minutes last year to eight minutes this year.

 

One of the applicants surnamed Zhang, who has been admitted to Lanzhou University in northwest Gansu Province, said students now don't have to worry about filling in forms repeatedly if they make a mistake with their pens.

 

As well, those who have student loans can now log on to the Website to check how much remains to be paid off.

 

"This will also help reduce the rate of unpaid loans. Some students have not repaid loans because they were uncertain about how much they owed," said Ni Xun, head of the commission's aid center.

 

Although there are no statistics on unpaid student loans, officials estimate the figure is less than 10 percent.

 

(Shanghai Daily August 9, 2007)