□  Government-guaranteed Student Loans Provided to 258,000 Students for the 2nd Semester of '06

 The Ministry of Education and Human Resources and KHFC announced that government-guaranteed student loans for the second semester of 2006 had been offered from July 26 through September 22. A total of KRW 792.5 billion was extended to 258,439 students.

 The number of borrowers in the second semester exceeded the initial goal (250,000 students). The total number of borrowers for the entire year exceeded the annual goal for 2006 (500,000 students) by 14,666, including 256,227 student borrowers in the first semester of 2006. Compared to 181,983 borrowers in the second semester of the last year, student lending was up 42.0%, clearly indicating that the government-backed student loan system is becoming an established means of finance for university students.

 Students from households belonging to Income Level 3 (annual income KRW 21.16 million) or lower accounted for 54.1% of total borrowers, which shows that the student loan system is doing much to expand opportunities in higher education to low income households and narrowing the gap between the rich and poor.

 KHFC plans to purchase student loan claims from 15 banks that facilitated student loans and issue about KRW 800 billion in Student Loan Backed Securities (SLBS).