When it comes to obtaining additional education, most potential students wonder: where to get the money? In Russia, the educational lending system is just in its infancy. Nevertheless, the opportunity to study in debt already exists.

Where is the money
The cost of educational services is constantly growing. Thus, Western MBA programs are rising in price by an average of 6–8% per year, and the price of their Russian counterparts has increased by at least 17–20% over the past year alone. But students of Western business schools have long been able to get an education on credit. Thus, according to GMAC (Graduate Management Admission Council), about 75% of all business school students in the US and 65% in EU countries use special loan programs. In Russia, the situation with student loans leaves much to be desired.

The first educational loans in our country appeared in 2000; Sberbank of Russia began issuing them. However, the loan is intended only for obtaining the first higher education. Loans for your first diploma can also be obtained through the Credo program, implemented by Crane and Soyuz Bank. And Surgutneftegazbank offers loans not only for first, but also for second higher education. True, you can borrow no more than 150 thousand rubles, which at a prestigious Moscow university will last at most for a year and a half.

The situation is worse with programs for business school students. “Since the entire ideology and technology of business education came from the West, the entire Western infrastructure associated with obtaining such an education had to be created here,” says Alexey Bogantsev , vice-rector of the Institute of Business and Business Administration (IBDA) of the Academy of National Economy. Five years ago, IBDA began searching for a partner bank, but none of them agreed to cooperate. The only option, developed by the school in tandem with Rosbank, assumed that if the student did not repay the loan, the school would return the loan. But it was not approved by the central office of Rosbank.

The logic of banks is clear - they do not want to take risks: an educational loan provides for low interest rates, the possibility of deferring payments for the period of study and an extended payment period - up to 10-11 years. But in a country with an unstable economy, the borrower may suddenly lose his job, and the educational institution may go bankrupt. Banks are also hampered by their lack of experience in participating in such projects. Alexander Koloshenko , head of the department for work with individuals at Raiffeisenbank: “At the moment, it is not easy to imagine how the borrower’s employment will turn out, and it is difficult for the client to predict his income. The situation should change in the next three to four years. We hope that by the end of 2005 we will be able to provide educational loans as a separate product.”

Lending in Russian
Today, only two banks work with business school students. The first targeted loan for business education appeared in Russia in 2004. It was initiated by the bank – Societe Generale Vostok (BSGV), a subsidiary of the French banking group Societe Generale. The bank considered this area of work promising and borrowed it from the parent company. BSGV approached IBDA, and then a number of other business schools with a proposal for cooperation. Today, in addition to IBDA, the Higher School of International Business of the Academy of National Economy, the Faculty of Computer Technology of the Academy of National Economy, the School of IT Management of the Academy of National Economy, the Graduate School of Business of Lomonosov Moscow State University, and the Stockholm School of Economics in Russia cooperate with the bank. “When choosing partners, we were guided by the fact that they have already established themselves as educational institutions offering high quality education,” says Svetlana Velanova , development specialist for youth management programs for working with private clients at BSGV. “We do not exclude the possibility that graduates of these business school students will be able to make a career in our bank (there are already precedents).”

Students of these business schools can take out a loan from BSGV in rubles (from 18% per annum), dollars and euros (from 11%). The interest rate depends on the terms of cooperation between the bank and a specific business school; the difference can be 0.5–1.5%. The client is required to make an advance payment of 10% of the loan amount. A surety bond is used as a guarantee. A student at a partner business school needs a guarantee only if he stops working for the duration of his studies. A student can borrow money for the full course of study and repay it over four years. In principle, not only students from partner schools, but also from other educational institutions can take out a loan from BSGV. However, the interest rate will be higher.

The second lending program is being implemented by the Metcombank branch in Yekaterinburg, but so far it is available only to residents of Yekaterinburg and the Sverdlovsk region. The program began operating at the end of last year, and at 19% per annum in rubles you can get a loan covering up to 100% of the cost of training. For a loan amount of up to 150 thousand rubles. The borrower, in addition to the necessary documents, will be required to have one guarantor, and above this amount - two. The choice of university is at the discretion of the student. Tatyana Volkova , deputy head of the retail lending department of Metcombank OJSC: “The loan amount depends on the borrower’s salary. For example, with a salary of 11 thousand rubles. You can get a loan for a year in the amount of 50 thousand rubles. In this case, the one-time commission (2% for service) will be 1 thousand rubles. plus 500 rub. for opening a credit line. Loan payments – about 5 thousand rubles. per month".

Consumer loan
While banks are thinking about targeted educational loan schemes, an applicant can go around and use another loan - for urgent needs. The Industrial Construction Bank says that such a loan for educational purposes is still rarely taken out - a maximum of one application per month, but demand is growing.

Theoretically, the size of the loan depends on the borrower’s salary, the availability of guarantors and how much the bank is willing to risk. Each bank determines the upper and lower limits of the loan, but usually it ranges from 3–5 thousand rubles. up to 100–150 thousand rubles, or about $5–10 thousand. However, you can find options up to $30 thousand, as in Rosbank.

The main advantage of such a loan is the speed of processing. As a rule, it is higher than the educational one; it can be taken in almost an hour. A loan for emergency needs is different in that it is issued for a short period (maximum two years) and does not provide grace periods for payments. But the most important thing is high interest rates: 19–24% in rubles and 12–15% in foreign currency. For example, if you borrow $13 thousand from Promstroybank at 16% per annum, you will have to pay back more than $16.7 thousand. And if you borrow 100 thousand rubles from the Bank of Moscow. for two years, you will have to return a total of about 142 thousand rubles. In addition to the main loan payments, the borrower also faces expenses for opening an account, registration fees, etc.

Money to the West
Now in Russia you can get a loan for studying not only at local business schools, but also in Western ones. The already mentioned BSGV provides this opportunity to listeners.

This bank has developed a joint program with Instituto de Empresa (Spain) and HEC School of Management (France). The loan covers the full cost of education at these schools, and the terms of issue are exactly the same as for partner schools in Russia. The money must be repaid after a maximum of four years, but during the course of training the student can only pay interest.

If desired, you can take out a loan from BSGV to study at other business schools. “Our MBA loan program has no restrictions on business schools,” says Svetlana Velanova. “With our help, three Russian students paid for their studies at INSEAD (France), borrowing 43,500 euros each on special terms: the bank is preparing an agreement with this school . Partnership agreements with specific schools allow us to provide the most favorable loan terms.”

The opportunity to take out a loan to study in the West is undoubtedly a unique phenomenon for our market. However, the terms of this loan are not the most favorable. In the West, for example, students at many business schools can receive money only on the basis of an enrollment document (see SF No. 15/2004 ). Another thing is that some well-known schools do not have such programs or they are just being tested.

Among Western banks, HSBC actively works with business schools. It serves leading UK business schools - LBS, Cranfield, etc. and offers tuition and living costs at 6-7% per annum. In the USA, the largest student lender is Citibank, which implements a large-scale CitiAssist program (Wharton, Harvard, Carnegie Mellon, etc. schools participate in it). Interest rates are at the level of 6–7%.

In a word, if a person enters a business school, he will always be able to find money to pay for his studies.

Natalia Tyutyunenko

Diploma with percentages