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With the Covid-19 pandemic taking over our daily lives as we stay at home to avoid the virus, schools all throughout the Philippines were forced to close their classrooms to prevent the spread of Covid-19 among our children and their teachers. This has affected their school-based learning routine, as students cannot go to school, listen to their teachers, and interact with their classmates.
Despite this loss of opportunity for the students to learn and experience new things in school, we will still be welcoming a new School Year 2020-2021 starting August. Education officials have also recommended multiple learning delivery modalities, such as blended learning, distance learning, and homeschooling to minimize face-to-face learning. These various learning options will help reduce possible exposure and spread of Covid-19 among teachers and students.
To ease the burden of enrollment expenses, the Social Security System’s Educational Assistance Loan Program may come in handy. Launched in 2012, EALP aims to support the members’ beneficiaries in their educational expenses for them to be able to become more knowledgeable and skilled Filipino citizens who can greatly contribute to nation-building in the future.
To qualify, the member-borrower must be below 60 years old, must have an actual monthly basic salary or income of P25,000 or below, must have at least 36 posted monthly contributions (six of which should be posted within the last 12 months prior to the month of filing of EALP Application), and must be up-to-date in the payment of his salary/housing and other member loans amortization. Keep in mind that those whose accounts are overdue are not eligible for the program.
The EALP beneficiaries may be the member-borrower, legal spouse of the member-borrower, child of the member-borrower (legitimate, illegitimate, or legally adopted), and sibling of the unmarried member-borrower (including half brother/sister). However, full scholars with zero tuition/miscellaneous fees/assessment balance are exempted under the EALP. Take note that substitution of beneficiary is not allowed. Each member-borrower is only allowed one beneficiary. Another beneficiary will only be allowed upon full EALP payment of the current beneficiary and subject to the availability of funds. They should also be enrolled in any undergraduate course offered by universities and colleges recognized by the Commission on Higher Education, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, or institutions duly recognized by the Philippine government.
The amount of loan that a member-borrower can apply for will depend on what course the beneficiary will take. For degree courses, maximum of P20,000 per program term or net tuition/miscellaneous fees/assessment balance on cash basis, whichever is lower. For a four-year degree program or its equivalent, the maximum number of times a member-borrower can avail himself of the EALP shall be eight semesters/12 trimesters/16 quarters, or a maximum of P160,000 full allocation. For a five-year degree program or its equivalent, the maximum number of times a member-borrower can avail himself of the EALP shall be 10 semesters/15 trimesters/20 quarters, or a maximum of P200,000 full allocation. For two-year vocational/ technical courses, maximum of P10,000 per semester/trimester or net tuition/miscellaneous fees/ assessment balance on cash basis, whichever is lower. For a semester program, the maximum number of availments shall be four semesters or a maximum of P40,000 full allocation. For a trimester program, the maximum number of availments shall be six trimesters or a maximum of P60,000 full allocation. The loan amount shall be funded on a 50:50 basis by the national government and SSS.
Repayment shall start on the month following the consolidation of the EALP, which is after 18 months for semestral programs,15 months for trimestral, or 14 months and 15 days for quarterly programs from the month of last release. Repayment term is up to five years for degree courses and three years for vocational and technical courses. The repayment term shall be determined upon consolidation of the account in accordance with the preferred term of the member-borrower as per initial EALP application, scheduled term based on the principal loan, or adjusted term where the member-borrower must not be 65 years old or older at the end of the repayment term, whichever is shorter. If there is still unpaid balance, it shall be deducted from the future benefit of the member-borrower.
The billing statement shall be issued on the month following the consolidation of the EALP to be sent through postal mail or electronic mail. Member-borrower shall fill out SS Form ML-1 (Member Loan Payment Return) upon payment with his/her name, SS number, and will have to mark “Educational” as Payment Type in the form. Payment may be through any of the SSS branches with a tellering facility or through any of the SSS accredited banks. Payments may also be through salary deduction of the member-borrower. The EALP beneficiary who is of legal age shall also be billed through his/her employer if the EALP account becomes past due for six months.
As of March 2020, there are 88,848 EALP member-borrowers with 96,106 total beneficiaries who availed themselves of the program.
Let us not take this pandemic as an obstacle to our children’s pursuit of education, especially now that we are all gearing toward a very challenging future. As what former South African President and political activist Nelson Mandela said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
Aurora C. Ignacio is SSS president and chief executive officer.
We welcome your questions and insights on the topics that we discuss. E-mail mediaaffairs@sss.gov.ph for topics that you might want us to discuss.
6 comments
How to apply for subsequent this school year?
Can a graduate school student avail this program?
We have paid in full our educ loan thru SSS Legarda Tellering and Bayad Centers. But until today all payments made thru Bayad Centers are not posted. We have visited your branch twice, but until today no postings yet. Thus we cannot avail of a salary loan, because your system is still telling us that we have an unpaid balance for educ loan. Last payment was made August 2019. What to do?
dear SSS TEAM,
i wish to apply for the STUDY NOW PAY LATER program. i have an incoming 3rd year college student son. during covid times, i lost some income, and was not able to enroll him last semester. I hope this program can help me defray his tuition expenses including the cost of buying desktop. if possible. I am still an active employee, updated in my monthly contribution since 1993.
please let me know how to proceed and the requirements so i can submit. I hope to enroll my son this coming semester, january 2021 if im not mistaken.
thank you,
EDITHA DALUMPINES
Paano po mag apply at saan po isubmit ang application ng educ. Loan..nag e mail po ako Las wala pa po rely..thanks
Pwede poba mag apply ng educational loan kahit 2nd year collage napo ang anak ko. Nag apply ako last year sabi may pandemic kaya naka stop muna. Sana po matugunan nyo po malaking bagay po tulad ko hirap sa buhay salamat po.