One in five university students in Turkey who receive state loan support fail to pay their debts

ANKARA

Some 239,097 university students, out of just over one million who received credit from the state for their higher education, have failed to pay back their loans on time, daily Evrensel reported on Aug. 23. 

The figure was issued by the Higher Education Student Loans and Dormitories Institution of the Youth and Sports Ministry, upon an application from main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Ankara deputy Ali Haydar Hakverdi.

According to the ministry, the debt of 1.16 million university students who received loans to support their education currently amounts to 13.2 billion Turkish Liras (about $3.8 billion), including interest added by the state. 

Of the students receiving support, 239,097 are reported to have not paid their debts back to the state on time, prompting the ministry to refer their files to the Finance Ministry to collect outstanding debts amounting to 2.8 billion liras.  

A similar loan scheme is also offered by the state to cover the university fees of students in need. The debt of the 388,225 students who have received this second loan currently amounts to 328.5 million liras, including interest added by the state. Some 106,185 of the students receiving this loan failed to pay back these university fees, meaning that outstanding debts amount to 18.2 million liras.