I applied for jpa pidn, but got rejected twice. But did get it in my 3rd year after an appeal.
Jpa pidn - approx 20k but hopefully can get it down to 10k (working in a private company in malaysia)

1.it is better to pick scholarships or loans that don't limit our choice industries unless you really know what you wanna do from the getgo. Pidn is quite good imo, I don't see a lot of bias ( ie due to race...a lot of my malay, indian and chinese colleagues are able to get that loan), and you can work in a private company and get half the discounts. ptptn as well, they don't give you much but if you can get 1st class, hey that's free money

3. Imo, it's a double edge sword to study overseas with huge loans ( unless you can reduce the amount with good grades etc). Sure you get probably better education and international exposure, but I don't think our local unis are that bad. When you apply for grad jobs there are other factors as well like communication, soft skills, attitude, extra uni activities, etc which can be gained at local uni as well...Taking my company for example ( this might be an isolated case), when I applied for it there were so many oversea grads, even with a masters degree. The majority that got it was from local unis. Same starting salary and when i talked to the hiring managers / hr.....the above skills and good grades mattered more than where they graduated. The oversea grads have to pay more for their loan compared to the local grads. I know this might not apply throughout the whole market but deemed it quite consistent along my colleagues and juniors in engineering.

I believe the main problem today is the disconnect between what the industry wants vs what the education institutes can churn out. Because the grads produced are not according to market demands, it's harder to command a proportionate salary to the cost of getting the required degree. In a way Malaysia's academia kinda becomes a 'syok sendiri' place. Here's another piece of article on the market shifts in the US, where companies are now offering jobs with no degree requirements anymore:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/college-degree-job-requirement/
https://www.businessinsider.com/google-ibm-...nk-of-america-5
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/25/companies-e...ed-workers.html

3. Imo, it's a double edge sword to study overseas with huge loans ( unless you can reduce the amount with good grades etc). Sure you get probably better education and international exposure, but I don't think our local unis are that bad. When you apply for grad jobs there are other factors as well like communication, soft skills, attitude, extra uni activities, etc which can be gained at local uni as well...Taking my company for example ( this might be an isolated case), when I applied for it there were so many oversea grads, even with a masters degree. The majority that got it was from local unis. Same starting salary and when i talked to the hiring managers / hr.....the above skills and good grades mattered more than where they graduated. The oversea grads have to pay more for their loan compared to the local grads. I know this might not apply throughout the whole market but deemed it quite consistent along my colleagues and juniors in engineering.

I do agree with you.
No point to go further your studies overseas if you end up working in Malaysia.
You only go UK study if you plan to pursue career there, else it doesn't justify the huge premium.

Oh wow, if it's as you say about the loan conversion, that sucks. I'm a JPA scholar myself, but since Malaysia couldn't provide employment for me, most of us got off scot-free. I do admit during my time as well I didn't pay much attention to it either because it was a full scholarship to attend public Uni in Malaysia, so in the off-chance I had to pay them back it's still within my means.

Though I guess I have a decent bit of awareness as I initially wanted to go to piloting school, but the program fee was quite high for my stomach back then (200k-ish). Eventhough my parents did say they're willing to partially fund it, I decided not to go through with it as I didn't want to put them on that spot. Tried to go for cadet pilot program under MAS, didn't pass on the 4th stage, so pursued other paths which is Mech. Engineering under JPA.

I believe the main problem today is the disconnect between what the industry wants vs what the education institutes can churn out. Because the grads produced are not according to market demands, it's harder to command a proportionate salary to the cost of getting the required degree. In a way Malaysia's academia kinda becomes a 'syok sendiri' place. Here's another piece of article on the market shifts in the US, where companies are now offering jobs with no degree requirements anymore:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/college-degree-job-requirement/
https://www.businessinsider.com/google-ibm-...nk-of-america-5
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/25/companies-e...ed-workers.html

Speaking from somebody who completed his professional degree, education is still very much important for me and I wouldn't change that even if given the chance.
However the market dictates what the market wants, and the payoff of a (non-professional) degree is looking to be lesser and lesser over time.
So if the choice is between a niche/less worthwhile degree & burdened by huge debt vs more general vocational license & less burdening debt, I say the choice can be quite clear.

p.s. Hard work, good ethics & common sense opens you more doors than any certs ever will, and that's free.

That's an interesting take on the skill underemployment in Malaysia, that we aren't producing what the market demanding and overproducing those irrelevant. This is why I am a bit frustrated on the fact I was unable to find any data on which education field exactly that is most affected by this underemployment. If we are overproducing a certain type of graduates, maybe we should disincetivize such actions and direct the resources to improving more necessities in the education.

Thanks for sharing this articles, I am checking them out. It would be great to see how this moves by the company can affect the application rates to universities, and what would be the moves by universities to survive this shift. It may range depending on education field though cause for some, universities role can be irreplaceable.

Btw, mind sharing more of your opinions in my survey please?