STUDENT LOAN IN SHARIA VIEW

In March 2018, President Joko Widodo in his speech challenged banks to implement education credit for universities or better known as Student loan. President Jokowi said that this was not without basis. This is reflected in the recent condition of society, namely the low absorption of high school graduates and the equivalent who continue their studies to college. Of course, this is very concerning, considering that competition is no longer only within the scope of Indonesia but at an international level, such as the MEA. On the other hand, credit absorption in Indonesia is still relatively low. President Jokowi also said that in several developed and developing countries, student loan system successfully implemented although there are still obstacles encountered. For these reasons, President Jokowi wants a credit system that can reduce these problems. The president's challenge was, in fact, well received by national banks. Within a few weeks, the State Savings Bank (BTN) launched education loans for students from undergraduate to postgraduate degrees and Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) launched loans for postgraduate and doctoral students with several conditions.

In 1980, in fact, Indonesia had implemented education credits, better known as KMI (Indonesian Student Credit). However, this program failed because the requirement to get a diploma for creditors must be able to pay off their education credits but in fact to get a job a student only requires photocopy a diploma that has been legalized so that it does not require an original diploma. This causes creditors/students not to pay off their education credit installments. Based on this experience, according to financial planners, it is necessary to have assessment individual after graduation, and education credit should be prioritized for students who want to continue their master's and doctoral degrees who already have jobs, while for undergraduate students it is necessary to have more filters, namely in the form of collateral from parents, as well as implementing 2C banking (Capital, character, capacity, condition, and collateral) to reduce the risk of bad credit.

In terms of Islamic banking, in our opinion student loans not yet implemented, first, Of course, the application of interest is very contrary to sharia principles. Secondly,, because Islamic banks are also business entities which of course need schemes that can generate profits, and contracts qordul hasan is not one that can bring profit. Meanwhile, Islamic banks can only enter into contracts for indirect loans that have profit sharing or profit sharing ujrah clear. Therefore, Islamic banks may still not be able to contribute to the challenges given by our president.

Reflecting on the various causes and effects student loans, this discussion offers another alternative to student loans namely the productive waqf of Education. The scheme of the educational productive waqf itself is waqf managed by the Indonesian Waqf Board (BWI) and distributed to anyone who needs it in two ways, namely through scholarships or loans through contracts. qordul hasan (Benevolence loans are loans that if the borrower is unable to pay it is okay or allowed). Productive waqf Education can also be implemented by universities. Single Tuition Fee (UKT) part of the percentage of which is set aside by the campus for waqf to become productive waqf, university waqf is managed by the campus itself so that its transparency and use is controlled, waqf funds can be used to carry out various halal businesses so as to generate profits where the waqf principal money should not be reduced the value and profits of waqf management are used for scholarships or Education loans for college students related to the same scheme as before.

This solution is considered to be more capable of overcoming the education problems presented by President Joko Widodo, and this program has been implemented and succeeded in several institutions including Pondok Modern Darussalam Gontor Ponorogo and International Islamic UniversityMalaysia and more in line with Islamic Sharia.

Apart from the various pros and cons of student loans, surely all parties hope that education in Indonesia will be better, through Student loan or other things that will then have a positive impact on the quality of our Human Resources so as to be able to create a much better national economy. As students, what we can do is continue to study well according to the chosen program and remain critical and wise students in facing various challenges in society in the future.

Author : Division Science ACSES FEB UNAIR 2018

Proker : AcSES Iqtishoduna Discussion

Moderator : Sigit Awwaludin