THE CONCEPT

WEC STUDENT LOAN ENDOWMENT FUND (WSLEF)

In the past a nation could survive with an unskilled labor

force. However, the survival of the fittest in the twentyfirst century will require a nation's masses to be educated
in logical thinking, reasoning and modern skills. It is
mostly through a college/university education that young
citizens learn and acquire these skills. Unfortunately, this
sector in Pakistan is amongst the weakest in the modern
nations. We believe that if you don't give people an
education you're robbing them of their liberty.

There is an urgent need for universities where both

undergraduate and graduate quality education is
available. Currently less than 4% of young Pakistanis in
the age group of 17-24 years are enrolled in a college or
university. The participation rate for the same age group
in developed countries is around 50%. Pakistan has 51%
of the population under the age of 21, which is a great
asset for the country. If harnessed and provided
appropriate opportunities they can change the face of
Pakistan for times to come. Ironically this is also true for if
then else situation; without direction, opportunities and
resources they can take the society and the country
to ..... a dooms day scenario. At present there are over
133 public and private universities/ chartered institutions
in the country. The standard of education in the public

sector, especially in science and technology, is modest.

Quality education is limited to only a few institutions.
Most of these institutions are private, profit-making and
are beyond the reach of all except a very small
percentage. Thus, there is both a strong and an urgent
need for institutions where quality education can be
made available to young men and women, especially
from economically disadvantaged families.

Institutions are not charitable, people are. When we make

institutions
charitable
we
cannot
ensure
their
sustainability, thus consigning them to the dustbin of
history. The Board and the college have made the
commitment to face the challenge and make a surplus to
invest for the future and students will be able to raise
loans from the fund once they are accepted. Admission
will be strictly on merit a highly symbolic principle in a
country rife with patronage and influence peddling. The
message is simple; if you don't have ability, you won't get
in. Every student must know that every other student has
got in on the basis of their merit.

WEC holds a need blind admission policy i.e. it does not

discriminate on the basis of financial strength of the
individual while admitting a student, the process which is
based purely on merit. Fulfilling its responsibility towards
the society, today WEC gives 6 percent of its turn over as
fee waivers and aid to students in need. Toppers in each

discipline and semester are rewarded with merit

scholarship taking care of their complete tuition fee. At
any point in time over 12 percent of student body at WEC
are availing some form of financial support. The
institution is consistently trying to include other
stakeholders in the community to help with this important
task through various endowments and scholarship
programs. This institution of student loan is a part of the
endeavour for providing financial assistance to students
and we hope to see the program being expanded.

This structured student loan facility, is first of a kind

being offered. This is in line with the vision to provide
financial
assistance
to
talented
students
while
maintaining financial viability of the product. The program
will benefit the students who are unable to get higher
education due to financial constraints. Following
transparent procedures and best practices the scheme in
the beginning will cover tuition fee of the students. The
students will be provided loan on interest free basis with
the condition of returning as soon as they become
independent and get jobs. A mechanism will be in place
at the institution level to verify the financial conditions of
the students to make the program more transparent.

The loan facility will be pivotal for students who are

currently financially unable to afford the cost of tuition
and living facilities. This is one of the first ventures of

such kind in Pakistan and is a testimony to POFs

commitment to support quality higher education as well
as the marketability of WEC students.

ELIGIBILITY

Under the scheme the students are eligible to apply for

loans provided:

He/She has obtained admission on merit through normal

course/procedure at WEC
He/She has secured 75% marks in the last public
examination
He/She is not more than 22 years old
He/She is unable to pursue studies due to financial
constraints
The Loan facility will be available for entire duration of
the stay on successfully maintaining CGPA 2.5 or above.
The facility at later stages will also cover besides
schedule fees, boarding expense less meal charges and
allowance for books (the fees and boarding expense will
be directly paid to the College).

REPAYMENT OF LOAN

The maximum period of repayment of loan is 10-Years

from the date of disbursement of first installment. The
beneficiary shall be encouraged to repay the loan as early
as possible. Latest should be in monthly installments
(minimum of Rs 10,000/-) after six months from the date
of first employment or one year from the date of
completion of studies, whichever is earlier.

Or;

To ensure no undue burden is placed on the recipients of

this assistance repayment plan can also be strictly
income based (25% of the pre-tax income (this will earn
him the tax rebate also) for minimum of initial seven
years after graduation). The only burden of evidence
required from beneficiaries of the programs shall be
copies of their national income tax returns (hence
promoting the national responsibility of paying/ filing
annual tax return also).

Or;

There could also be a Murabaha concept in the loan

instead of Qard-e-Hasna with repayments to equal

perhaps 125% of the total fee to ensure that only those

who need it use it.

It is also hoped that this will be the starting point for the
beneficiaries for role reversal and be the contributories to
this and such like funds.

MAINTENANCE OF FUND

A university/college or school can only be as good as the

resources it has at its disposal. For this purpose Wah
Engineering College Endowment Fund has been
established with a seed money of Rs 12.5 Million.
Acknowledging that such a fund must be sustainable, that
it acts in a manner which partners with students, and is
an attractive prospect for future donors it will be assured
that:

Any amounts that are invested into the fund shall not be
eligible for withdrawal and expense for any purpose. This
is also the basic principle of operation for any endowment
fund.
In the interest of partnering with students and to be able
to increase the size of the fund to allow a maximum
number of students to be benefitted by it the fund shall

only provide interest-free loans to eligible students with a

priority on need basis.
To increase the attractiveness of this fund to its donors as
well as its beneficiaries, all funds managed by the trust
shall be placed within recognized Islamic Financial
institutions to ensure compliance with Sharia principles.
Moreover, as the amount of income generated by any
Islamic Investment is not guaranteed, principally all
payments to the College shall be made on a lump-sum
basis at the beginning of the students 4 year program.
Discounts (10%) from the College in lieu of early lumpsum payments is being worked out to assist further
increase the number of possible beneficiaries further or
offset periodic increase in fees/ expenses.
The seed money will be able to sustain 8 engineering
students in perpetuity. Wah Engineering College will
donate Rs 3 Million each year to the fund to extend the
loan facility to an additional student for at-least first eight
years of institution of the fund. The Trust shall be
mandated to aggressively seek new and different donors
in an attempt to cover as many students as possible. The
donations sought preferably should be in multiples of Rs
1.5 Million (the number established to support one
engineering student in perpetuity).
There are other endowment funds that exist as well, most
importantly the PEEF which will also be tapped into to
provide quality education to the students.
STUDENT SUPPORT FUND

The student repayments shall start coming after a

minimum period of 4 to 5 years, then the number of
students affected each year thanks to the initial seed
money contributed should ideally start to increase
substantially.

Moreover to offset any influence of inflation at least 10%

of income generated as well as any surplus amount
available after disbursement of payments shall be
reinvested into the endowment fund.

TRUST TO MANAGE STUDENT LOAN

To manage the Student Loan Fund a Board of Trustees has

been established. Trust is being headed by Chairman
POFs Board. The other members be:

Principal WEC;
Chairman Fee Concession Committee WEC;
MD POF Welfare Trust;
Director Student Affairs;
An Alum from WEC; (to be named later)

Two donors if completely supporting more than four

students (to be named later).
SECURITY OF FUNDS

The Pilot Project shall start with wards of POFs

employees, where instead of looking here and there for
fee concessions or other financial aid they can apply for
the Student Loan keep their heads high while
accomplishing their course of studies. After being
beneficiaries of such a scheme it is hoped that they will
also be contributing to this and similar funds with a
multiplier effect. Wards of POF employees being the
beneficiaries no collateral will be required from their side
to guarantee the pay back.

We have also partnered with Fauji Fertilizer Corporation

(FFC) who have pledged to support four students initially.
As a holistic process the students will be from the area
where their factories operate and/ or from schools which
they have adopted and after securing admission on merit
and fulfilling other criterion they will be afforded the
opportunity of student loan and on successful completion
of the program they will have the privilege to serve at
FFC. We look forward towards other major corporation
and semi and autonomous bodies to come forward and
follow the lead. You support the students financially for
quality education and we will give you and the country
academically accomplished socially responsible and

enlightened engineers. You fulfill the corporate social

responsibility and we will engineer Pakistan.

Success of the Pilot Project will pave way when the

program is extended. The Partner bank in consultation
with the Board of Trustees for the Fund may also suggest
conditions to assure a reasonable percentage of refund. It
is mainly a Trust based arrangement with a hope that
additional donors will far outweigh the defaulters, if any.

Transparency in the maintenance of Fund will be the key

to attract substantial donors. Once this has been
established and we find donors who may be willing to
sponsor four or more students establishment of multiple
funds under the management of the trust with the rules
of each governed by donor intent (should only be
established if the donor is large enough or several
enough in number to justify the effort of operating an
extra fund) will be formed.

There has to come a time when the private sector has to

say, we're going to take responsibility with the sense of
upholding the social responsibility. The plan will work as
the college will hold its head high nationally
/internationally. We want to be world class. We must feel
that we can get a world-class institution here and produce
first class people. With no compromise on standards, the

college will attract students from the region and from the
large Pakistani diaspora, as well as from the country itself.
But it will be a while to reach that goal.

Your patronage, guidance and donations are solicited to

make the program a success.

It's truly a start-up. This is academic entrepreneurship.