In Thailand, education is not a foundation for success for everyone, but a tool to preserve the existing social statuses of the elites. It is often the case that students from less endowed backgrounds would not go as far as the more-well-off classmates as the latter had the resources to go further with less effort. It is our goal to restate the true purpose of education—leveling the playing field and enabling people to fulfill their dreams.
One of the challenges in education that Matilda Foundation addresses is to provide student loans at a zero-interest rate to the determined candidates with a clear vision. The government led student loan program in Thailand only covers undergraduate studies and has a ceiling of USD 2,200, limiting the options for those from a less-privileged family – especially when aiming to continue onto higher education. While simply creating yet another scholarship could ease such a problem, there are limited opportunities and often limited options that coincide with the donors’ specifications.
This is why we believe a student loan should be a sustainable solution that enables people to have freedom of choice and that positions education as an investment rather than a privilege, while proving the determination of the applicant. We created a program that is a hybrid between a student loan program and a scholarship. The program works as a student loan as the grantee still have to pay back, but also as a scholarship as the foundation will not impose a payback period and will cover the interest rate incurred during those years.