Jakarta – The Higher Education, Science and Technology Ministry is working to ensure that this year's Indonesia Smart Card (KIP) program for university students will be unaffected by President Prabowo Subianto's budget efficiency policy under Presidential Instruction No. 1/2025, issued on Jan. 23.
The policy mandates all ministries, state agencies and regional administrations to save an estimated Rp 306 trillion (US$18.7 billion) by reallocating funding from targeted spending cuts in the 2025 state budget.
The higher education ministry had proposed excluding the university KIP program from the sweeping efficiency measure as an ongoing program that played a crucial role in national education, said Togar Mangihut Simatupang, the ministry's secretary-general.
"[This move is] in line with the President's priorities," Togar said on Tuesday, as quoted by Tempo.co.
At the same time, he said the ministry was looking to increase this year's KIP recipients by another 200,000 on top of the around 840,000 students approved to receive financial aid through the program.
The quota expansion proposal had been submitted to the House of Representatives and was pending approval from the House Budget Committee (Banggar), Togar said. If approved, the ministry would then file a request with the Finance Ministry to increase the budget allocation for the university KIP program.
Registration for the 2025 program was launched on Tuesday with a webinar, during higher education minister Satryo Soemantri Brodjonegoro emphasized the government's commitment to supporting underprivileged students.
"We support academically talented students who are economically disadvantaged. They will be educated and contribute to society," Satryo told the webinar.
The KIP registration procedure is the same as last year: Senior high school students planning to matriculate must first register with the financial aid program and then apply to state universities through the achievement-based admission mechanism.
According to the government, this mechanism helps better synchronize the data for university applicants and potential KIP recipients.