Reasons for non-payment of the Student Loan Fund (SLF.) of the defendants in Khon Kaen District Court, Khon Kaen Province

Abstract

        A topic of considerable debate is why Student Loan Fund’s debtors do not repay on schedule. Consequently, this research aimed to explore the reasons for non-payment of the Student Loan Fund (SLF.) of the defendants in Khon Kaen District Court, Khon Kaen Province. The research is based on qualitative research methodology by using document review and key informant interview. Ten respondents were selected by purposive sampling technique, including five SLF officers and five SLF debtors.
        The results show that there are multiple reasons for the defendants' failure to repay the SLF loan on schedule. First of all, the debtors believe that the government will forgive the debt or will not collect the debt, so they simply ignore the repayment obligation. Secondly, there is a belief among some groups of debtors that anyone who repays the debt is a fool. Thirdly, the interest rate on the principle is low, and can be paid at any time. Next, many debtors have other liabilities which they feel are higher priority. Likewise, many of them understand that the repayment of SLF loan can be extended over a long period of time, so they postpone the matter. Furthermore, some of the students passed their debt to the sureties. Also, many of the debtors did not find a stable job after completing their studies and, thus, did not earn the expected income to pay off the loan. Moreover, some of the debtors did not complete their requirements for graduation. By contrast, some debtors are in the process of consolidating their debts and arrange a repayment plan. In addition, several debtors did not clearly understand the requirements of the loan and the repayment collecting process. Finally, there was a lack of publicity about loan repayment with accurate and complete information.