The Finance Ministry has stepped up efforts to persuade overdue student-loan debtors to repay debts, starting with those who are now government officials.
Since its establishment in 1996, the Student Loan Fund has lent 400 billion baht to 4.5 million students so they can finish high school or high vocational education, or pursue a bachelor's degree.
It charges a 1% interest rate and repayments start the second year after graduation.
Of all 4.5 million debtors, 2 million, or 44%, did not repay the loans or were behind in their payments, with 56 billion baht outstanding.
Of the 2 million overdue debtors, 60,000 are now government officials, 1,000 of whom work at the Finance Ministry, finance permanent secretary Somchai Sujjapongse told Thai media on Tuesday.
"Some of them may have misunderstood that the money is for free while others just won't pay," he said.
Some of the 60,000 non-paying officials now hold positions as high as C-8 to C-9, Mr Somchai added.
"We will invite the ministries hiring them to allow the fund to deduct the due payments from their salaries," he said.
The debtors who agree to the deductions by Sept 30 this year will be exempted from the 50% or 100% fine. If they agree to pay off the debts, they will get a 1% bonus of the outstanding amount, Mr Somchai said.
Asked whether the incentives are not fair to good debtors who have paid promptly, Mr Somchai said his ministry was also planning incentives for this group in the near future.
Similar incentives will also be offered to debtors who now work in the private sector at a later date.
The ministry set a target of at least 19 billion baht in repayments this year. The fund was paid 11 billion, 13 billion and 17 billion baht from 2013 to 2015 respectively.
For 2015 academic year, a student loan comprises annual tuition fee (14,000 to 200,000 baht) and a living allowance (13,200 to 26,400 baht). The maximum total is 226,400 baht per student per year.