REPORT ON MEETING WITH OFFICER IN FINANCE DIVISION

Date : 22nd March 2010-04-16
Time : 2.00- 3.00pm
Venue : Office of Finance Division

A female student who is residence of Mahallah Aminah came to see Welfare Secretariat of Students’ Representative Council 2009/2010 and informed us about her financial problems. She is the first out of six siblings and most of them still study at secondary school. She had to use part of the money she got from PTPTN to help her family because her mother does not work and her father works as a security guard with the basic salary of RM 495 with a pension from the army. Her father still faces difficulties in supporting the whole family. Due to that, we met Encik Nik Haziman Nik Mat, Senior Executive Officer, one of the officers at Students Affairs Divison for further action.

According to him, there are three financial assistances in IIUM that are Zakat, IIUM Advancement, and Khairat Fund. For Zakat, forms are available at Zakat and Training Services Unit. The applications are open for all full time registered students of IIUM. The assistance will be on food and daily expenses only and strictly not for tuition fees payment. For those successful applicants, they are exempted from applying for zakat assistance for the next 2 semester. The reason behind that is to give opportunity to other students who need it more.

IIUM advancement is a kind of loan for students. Any student can apply for the financial assistance provided but they have to pay back the amount. The only condition that they have to comply with is they must have something to guarantee they could pay back the loan for example if the student got PTPTN, the loan could be payed from there. The form to apply is available at STAD Office and every mahallah in IIUM.

To apply for Khairat Fund, the student does not need to go through an interview, they only need to fill in the form which is available at STAD. Also, The amount for this financial assistance is not that much and it depends on how critical the case is.

In her situation, she was advised to apply for Khairat Fund to assist her in her financial problems. It is advisable to all students that are interested in applying for funds or any related financial assistant to attach with their details the reason for applying to such fund. This is important to help the administrator of financial assistant to evaluate the application accordingly.