I AM writing this in response to the letter by M.T. of Puchong (”One-sided offer unfair to students and parents” — NST, Jan 8).

A few years ago, a colleague of mine had written to the newspapers to highlight a similar problem — that the International Medical University (IMU) has a policy of forfeiting either a portion or the entire amount of deposit under certain circumstances.

Back then, when I was trying to enrol my daughter, this problem was already highlighted by other parents.

The IMU is one of the medical schools in Malaysia with the highest number of students and since everyone is trying to gain a place, maybe that’s why parents have decided to give in to this ridiculous policy.

Another of IMU’s policies which should be scrutinised is the payment of fees for every semester.

The deadline for payment of the semester fees is always before the date the exam results are released.

If a student does not wish to continue after failing an exam, he/she would have paid upfront.

Also, fines are imposed on late payment, ranging from RM250 to RM1,000.

It does not help that the study loans that students take from the National Higher Education Fund are not released at the start of the new semester but much later.

CHAN K.T., Shah Alam

Source: NST – January 10, 2008