After my form five, I applied to three local universities… well, at that time it was two universities and one institution. They are Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Universiti Pertanian Malasia (UPM) and Institut Teknologi Mara (ITM, now changed to university, UITM).

I applied to these three coz they are offering Computer Science… and I put Computer Science as my first choice course. When the reply came, the first one was from UPM… but unfortunately they offered me my second or third choice (can’t really remember) which was Agriculture course… and it will be in Sarawak.

I was really mad and sad when I received it coz at that time applications supposed to be centralized… meaning all applications to any local universities and institutions will be ‘piled’ to one ‘department’ to avoid overlapping offer so that all applicants can get chance.

By getting the Agriculture course offer from UPM, it was the end of my Computer Science dream… coz there should not be any more offer to come for me.

So, the first thing to do, me and some friends who also received the UPM offer but different course is to get scholarship.  Unfortunately, Computer Science is not listed in scholarship program… be it from the State Government or Yayasan Sabah (YS)… but YS is listing Computer Science in their study loan program.

Well, I knew about this before submitting my application to the universities… no choice but I have to take the YS study loan offer… but there was another unfortunate… but not so serious lah… since there are so many crooks that did not pay back their YS study loan after completing their studies, that year YS started imposing collateral… I have to use my father’s land title as the collateral. I have to go up and down to YS to make sure I get my study loan.

And at one fine day, while at YS… and since the staff has become so familiar with us (probably we were very helpful and kind… and noisy… and almost like working there)… they told us to help them to go through the piles of offer from UTM which just arrived to see if we know any of the names… since they will not be able to send it to the recipients on time coz the course is going to start in few weeks.

So we dig into the piles and try to see if any of the recipients are our friends… and guess what? My friend found MY ENVELOPE!!! My mind was… I don’t know… I forgot how my mind was that time.

I grab it from my friend and tear the envelope like a dog tearing the newspaper… the YS staffs even said… take it easy don’t rush, nanti tekoyak semua… LOL.

And the offer is for Computer Science in Johor!!!… I was so happy, luckily I did not jump out from the 17th floor of the YS building. After calming myself, I continue helping to go through the pile… and we found 2 friends’ envelope.

A few days later, I got another offer from ITM for Computer Science and Maths in Perak.

Fast Forward… After I completed my study, I reported to YS (actually there is longer story about this, will talk about it again next time), I started paying back my study loan but inconsistent. I was lazy to go to YS sometimes to pay my monthly payment. Then they offer mobile collection (got story also for this)… then auto pay from salary…

I happily took the auto pay and since auto pay will never miss the monthly payment, at the end of every year, I’m given rebate… I think it was like 10% of what I paid for that year. And that is where I got the ‘refund’ coz auto pay will continue paying base on the payment period… it don’t care if the amount paid is already enough or not.

Fast Forward… About 2 years ago, I went back to YS to collect back my collateral. They returned my father’s land title inside a big envelope with the nice YS logo. I was hoping for a personalized tote bag with the YS logo printed on it… but it’s ok. I did not bother about the extra I have paid until early this year they called me for my details. And last month, I received my refund check for RM610.40 🙂