THE Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia 2023 exams ended last month and for many school-leavers, the next phase of their educational pursuit will start soon, if they have not enrolled in private institutions already.

Having put three kids to private tertiary education, including my youngest son last year, I know that this is a testing time for parents too. Private tertiary education is not cheap and can set parents back by hundreds of thousands of ringgit per child. It doesn’t help that our ringgit has weakened considerably over the years, which affects parents whose kids are studying overseas.