Photo/Illutration The education ministry (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Children of foreign nationals who intend to continue living in Japan will become eligible for college scholarships under a program being considered by the education ministry.

The expanded system calls for loans handled by the Japan Student Services Organization (JASSO) to be made available to foreign children who have graduated from schools up to senior high school level.

That background is deemed a good indication that the students regard Japan as home, according to ministry officials.

The loan-scholarships would be made available even if the children were still on a “dependent” visa.

The education ministry is seeking the change for the new school year starting in April.

Ministry officials estimate that around 200 children per university year would apply for the scholarship in either loan form or under the new program in which tuition would be reduced or exempt along with a scholarship that did not have to be repaid.

JASSO provided scholarships to foreign children but on condition their visa was for permanent, long-term or special permanent stay.

In May 2023, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s Special Committee on Foreign Workers compiled recommendations that included a proposal to expand JASSO scholarships to foreign children who still held a dependent visa.

Foreign children who have graduated from Japanese schools can switch to long-term resident visa status after graduating from senior high school if they have a job offer in hand.

But if they decide to go on to higher education, they are obliged to stick to the dependent visa, making them ineligible for the JASSO scholarship under the current system.

In such cases, the students have no visible means of economic support, and often come from households where a steady income is not a given. As a result, many foreign children in Japan give up on higher education.

A fiscal 2021 study by the education ministry found that among senior high school students who required additional training in the Japanese language, including those holding foreign passports, only 51.9 percent went on to higher education, compared to the 73.4 percent of all senior high school students who did so.

Statistics compiled by the Immigration Services Agency show that as of the end of June 2023 there were about 112,000 foreign children 18 or younger who held a dependent visa, more than double the 52,000 or so children who held that visa at the same time in 2013.

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