Non-means-tested Loan Scheme for Post-secondary Students (NLSPS)

Overview

The Non-means-tested Loan Scheme for Post-secondary Students (NLSPS) is to complement the Financial Assistance Scheme for Post-secondary Students (FASP) to provide loans to eligible students to settle tuition fees of locally-accredited, self-financing full-time programmes at the level of associate degree, higher diploma or degree.

Interest and Administrative Fee

Interest
  • The NLSPS operates on a full-cost recovery basis. Loan borrowers have to pay interest for their loans.

  • Interest is accrued at the prevailing NLSPS interest rate upon loan drawdown and throughout the study period until the loan is repaid in full.

  • The interest rate of non-means-tested loans is derived on a no-gain-no-loss (NGNL) basis (the NGNL interest rate is currently set at 3.538% below the average best lending rate of the note-issuing banks) plus a risk-adjusted-factor (RAF) rate which seeks to cover the risk of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in disbursing unsecured loans. The NGNL rate will be reviewed by the end of each month and if adjustment is to be made, the adjusted rate will take effect from the first day of the following month. The RAF rate has been reduced to zero since the 2012/13 academic year.

  • Please refer to the "Administrative Fee and Interest Rate" for the prevailing NLSPS interest rate.

Administrative Fee
  • An administrative fee is chargeable for each application and each loan account to recover the full costs of processing the applications and administering the NLSPS.

  • The administrative fee is chargeable upon submission of application and annually thereafter until the NLSPS loan and interest accrued thereon are fully repaid. #

    • Before submitting application

    • After loan drawdown

      • Administrative fee will be charged on each loan account on an academic year basis and is chargeable on 1 December each year. If there is any unsettled balance under the loan account on or after 1 December, administrative fee will be demanded for repayment in the demand note with due date falling on 1 January of the following year.
      • Under normal circumstances, loan borrowers will not receive any demand note before the commencement of loan repayment. Thus, the administrative fee accrued during the study period will be demanded for repayment in the first demand note with due date falling on 1 January following the commencement of loan repayment (If loan borrowers have opted for deferred activation of loan repayment, the administrative fee accrued will be demanded for repayment in the demand note with due date falling on 1 January of the following year). If the loan repayment period shall end before 1 December of the loan repayment commencement year, the administrative fee accrued during the study period will be demanded for repayment in the first demand note after commencement of loan repayment. In other words, loan borrowers may be required to repay administrative fee accrued for more than one year in the above-mentioned demand note.
      • Loan accounts will be created on a course basis. Interest and administrative fee will be calculated separately for each loan account.
      • Please take note of the charging arrangement of the administrative fee. Repayment of the NLSPS loan in a lump sum on or before 30 November can save the administrative fee for the ensuing academic year.
  • Administrative fee is a fixed fee and will not be charged on a pro-rata basis nor paid by instalments. Administrative fee paid is neither refundable nor transferable.

  • Administrative fee is subject to review regularly. The prevailing administrative fee for the NLSPS is HK$180