Permissibility of Using HEC-HELP Loans for Tertiary Study
Assalāmu ‘Alaykum wa Rahmatullāhi wa Barakātuhu.
Will you be able to write an article explaining the permissibility or impermissibility of taking out loans for students pursuing further/tertiary education?
JazākAllāhu Khayrā
Answer
Wa ‘alaykum as Salam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu,
Any loan that incures interest will not be permissible. From our research, we find that the HECS loan is interest based, even thought they might say that it has no interest. It is amended each year according to the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The amount payable cannot be based on the duration of time.
As such, the HECS loans will not be permissible.
As a solution, Muslims may take private loans from others, and pay back the exact amount that was loaned.