The Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (Ministerio de Hacienda y Crédito Público), by means of Decree 1280 of September 23, 2020, authorized Findeter (Financiera de Desarrollo Territorial S.A.) to create a rediscount line destined to finance totally or partially the most representative items of the operation of public or private higher education institutions, which offer incentive plans, scholarships or discounts to tuition for student permanence.
The objective of this policy is to prevent the student desertion that could be generated as a consequence of the economic crisis generated by the COVID-19, through the granting of a subsidy up to COP 11,688,000,000. The total amount of the line will be up to COP 200,000,000,000 and may be granted only during the time period from September 23, 2020 to June 30, 2021. The resources that are not assigned until this date shall be returned to the General Directorate of Public Credit and National Treasury (Dirección General de Crédito Público y Tesoro Nacional) within the following 3 months.
The beneficiary educational institutions must present to the Ministry of National Education (Ministerio de Educación Nacional), through their legal representative, the plan of incentives, scholarships or discounts to tuition fees for student permanence, which must contain a list of the total income received in the period of 2019, indicating whether it is higher or lower than COP 52,000,000,000, among other minimum data.
This line excludes public Higher Education Institutions that are budgeted for in sectors other than Education.