Jakarta, IO – Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) went viral recently because it offered its students way to pay tuition fees through online lending platforms (pinjol). Image circulating on social media showed a pamphlet containing information on 6-12 monthly tuition instalments managed by a third party, per CNN Indonesia, Monday (29/1).
To apply, students do not need to provide any down payment (DP) and collateral. ITB spokesperson Naomi Haswanto confirmed that the campus uses P2P lending platform to help students pay their tuition. However, she said the collaboration was carried out with financial institutions approved and licensed by the Financial Services Authority (OJK).
Naomi said that students have many options to pay their tuition fees, either through virtual account services, credit cards, and via non-bank institutions registered with the OJK called Danacita. She also emphasized that this provides ways to ease the burden on students, especially those who experience financial difficulty so they could make payments in several instalments.
ITB said it has collaborated with Danacita since 2023 and pointed out that this is not exclusive to ITB as many universities have also done the same.
In response, chairman of the OJK Task Force for the Eradication of Illegal Financial Activities (Satgas Pasti), Sarjito, said that the method of paying tuition fees in instalments would actually burden students even more. Sarjito said that the financial watchdog is investigating the matter.
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Nizam, acting director general of the Directorate General of Higher Education, Research and Technology (Diktiristek), said the Education and Culture Ministry has asked the ITB rector to find a better solution.
“We can’t let students become trapped in debt that they have no means to repay. Hopefully there will be a better solution soon,” said Nizam. (un)