Singing the student loan blues
(From The Japan Times September 25 issue)

奨学金滞納者の急増、抜本的制度改革を

A business report of the Japan Students Services Organization (JASSO), a student loan provider under the wing of the education ministry, shows that many borrowers are having difficulty repaying their debts, apparently because of the current economic downturn, which makes it difficult for graduates to get stable jobs.

JASSO's outstanding loan balance is ¥6.234 trillion. Loans in arrears for three months or longer amount to ¥262.9 billion, roughly twice the corresponding figure of ¥136.3 billion in fiscal 2002. Some 70 percent of those loans are overdue for one year or longer and about 10 percent overdue for 10 years or longer.

In fiscal 2009, JASSO extended ¥959.5 billion in loans — ¥248.5 billion without interest and ¥711 billion with interest — to 1.18 million students. As of the end of March 2010, out of 2,627,000 people who had to repay, 336,000 were delinquent borrowers, owing ¥79.7 billion.

During the same fiscal year, JASSO filed 4,233 claims against delinquent borrowers. The number of such lawsuits has been rapidly rising — 58 in fiscal 2004, 266 in fiscal 2005, 547 in fiscal 2006, 1,407 in fiscal 2007 and 1,504 in fiscal 2008.

To cope with an increasing number of delinquent borrowers, JASSO joined an organization that logs individuals' consumer credit histories. Last spring, it started providing the organization with information on delinquent borrowers' names, addresses and amounts owed. Some of them may become unable to use credit cards or get housing loans.

A JASSO survey of borrowers who are in arrears for six months or longer shows that they are suffering from financial difficulties — with 40.8 percent mentioning their low income, 37.3 percent their parents' financial difficulties and 19.8 percent their unemployment. The government should make serious efforts to prevent a situation in which students have to give up going to school because of financial difficulties. It should remember the Democratic Party of Japan's 2009 Lower House election manifesto, which called for giving scholarships carrying no repayment obligation to students who need them.

文科省傘下の日本学生支援機構は、同機構の奨学金制度利用者の多くが不況で安定した職に就けず返済に苦しんでいることを明らかにした。

3ヵ月以上の滞納者の債務総額は昨年度で2629億円、2002年度の約2倍となった。延滞1年以上が7割を占め、10年以上も1割ある。

昨年度、同機構が奨学金返還を求めた訴訟は4223件に急増。回収率向上のために同機構は個人信用情報機関に加入、滞納者の情報登録を開始した。登録されるとクレジットカードや住宅ローンが利用できなくなる場合もある。

半年以上の延滞理由は主に自身の低収入や失業、親の金銭問題だ。今後、学生が金銭的理由で進学をあきらめずに済むよう、政府は本格的な対策を取るべきだ。民主党2009年衆院選マニフェストで給付型奨学金導入の検討を進めると明記したことを忘れてはならない。