Deputy higher education minister Mustapha Sakmud said that students from private higher learning institutions were previously exempted, alluding to when Pakatan Harapan came to power in 2018.
However, exemptions are currently only given to undergraduates from B40 and M40 households studying at public universities, he said.
“I think the mechanism needs to be fine-tuned as they (students from private higher learning institutions) were included, then excluded from the initiative.
“But I think the finance ministry and higher education ministry will consider it (exempting private university students) in the future,” he told the lower house.
Mustapha was responding to Tan Kar Hing (PH-Gopeng) who asked whether the government, through the higher education ministry or the finance ministry would review the decision to cancel the repayment exemption for first-class honours graduates from private institutions.
In Budget 2026, the government introduced a targeted PTPTN loan repayment exemption for first-class honours graduates from public universities, limited to students from the B40 and M40 income groups.
On Friday, FMT quoted a Monash University student association president and a former vice-president at Inti University as saying that limiting such waivers to first-class honours graduates from public universities was “disheartening” and unfair to those hoping to qualify for a waiver on their study loans.
Higher education minister Zambry Abdul Kadir recently said the suspension of the loan waiver for students from private universities was to allow the ministry to reassess the definition of “first class” across both public and private universities to ensure fairness.
Tan also asked if the government would consider expanding PTPTN repayment exemptions beyond academic excellence to those serving in rural or critical sectors.
Mustapha said while Tan’s proposal was “very good”, it would depend “on PTPTN’s financial capability and its funding model”.
Earlier, Mustapha revealed that the PTPTN database does not include detailed information on borrowers’ monthly income, as data is based on the family’s income at the time of loan application.
He said as of Oct 31, 2025, 911,788 borrowers from STR recipient families had fully repaid loans amounting to RM13.89 billion, while 58,921 non-STR families earning below RM8,000 a month had repaid RM703.45 million, and 136,196 families earning above RM8,000 a month had repaid RM1.54 billion.
STR or Sumbangan Tunai Rahmah is aid given to low- and middle-income Malaysians.
Mustapha said 967,756 borrowers from STR families still owed RM10.23 billion, while 196,315 non-STR families earning below RM8,000 had arrears of RM539.35 million, and 64,618 borrowers from families earning above RM8,000 owed RM257.56 million.