With the additional $50 million grant from the Government last year to the original $50 million Student Loan Fund, the University is able to extend the low-interest, means-tested student loan scheme by providing a new loan type -- Pay After One Year (PAOY) -- to needy students starting from the April 2000 semester.

Since October 1995, the University's Student Loan Scheme has assisted more than 10,000 students in paying their course fees. On average, each student receives a loan that can pay for the course fees of more than ten credits each semester. Most of the successful applicants receive a Pay As You Learn (PAYL) loan -- to be repaid in three to six bi-monthly instalments during the course duration. A small number receive a Pay On Graduation (POG) loan -- to be repaid quarterly within three years after graduation.

The new loan, to be introduced in the coming December 1999 admission period, is a loan of an intermediate nature in terms of repayment. Loan recipients will be required to start repaying the loan one year after the loan is received, instead of having to repay almost immediately after the course starts. The repayment will be settled in either two equal quarterly instalments within a half year (one-semester course) or four equal quarterly instalments within one year (two-semester course).

For smoother loan administration and enhanced convenience to students, the existing PAYL repayment schedule will be streamlined. PAYL loans will be repaid in equal quarterly instalments, just like the POG and new PAOY loans. Students would be charged a 'one-off' administrative fee in place of interest. Therefore, no interest needs to be paid as part of the loan repayments.

Successful applicants would be offered the appropriate loan type according to the loan points they have achieved. There is no need to indicate the choice at the time of application.

Besides student loans, there are also bursaries (no repayment needed) and interest-free emergency assistance loans, which are available to continuing students only.

The bursary scheme has been established by the University with donations from commercial organizations, firms and individuals. Bursaries are offered to the most needy students with the lowest disposable income.

More than $28 million was disbursed to 2,100 students studying in the October 1999 semester in the form of bursaries, POG loans and PAYL loans.

Students can also apply for a Non-means Tested Loan from the Government's Student Financial Assistance Agency, which has a higher interest rate.