Okawa City Scholarship Proxy Repayment Corporate Support Grant

The Okawa City Scholarship Proxy Repayment Corporate Support Grant is a Fukuoka Prefecture municipal program effective June 1, 2026. It subsidises small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) located in Okawa City that operate a proxy-repayment scheme for their employees' student loans, helping them recruit and retain young workers and encouraging young people to settle in the city. The program targets borrowings under JASSO (Japan Student Services Organization) Type 1 and Type 2 loans, which support proxy repayment via the JASSO scheme. Eligible employers are SMEs with their headquarters or principal place of business in Okawa City. They must be current on city taxes, water and sewage charges, and sewer-user-benefit contributions. Excluded are political and religious bodies, adult-entertainment operators, businesses that have committed serious labour-law violations in the past three years, those that have already received the grant in the same fiscal year, and any operator the mayor deems unsuitable. Target employees must be registered residents of Okawa, enrolled in employment insurance, employed as full-time regular staff (including probation), aged 39 or younger at the end of the fiscal year in which the first application is filed, not living in the same household as the employer and not a relative within the third degree (with carve-outs for normal employment conditions), and not corporate officers. The eligible expense is the proxy-repayment amount paid in the fiscal year for the target employee's qualifying JASSO loan. The cap is 100,000 yen per employee per year (only when monthly proxy repayment is 10,000 yen or more), with a per-employer cap of 500,000 yen per year. Coverage runs for up to three fiscal years per employee. Employers must complete a corporate-registration step in advance (Form 1) and submit articles such as the corporate-registration application form, certificate of registered company matters or proof of establishment, copy of internal scholarship-support regulations, and a city-tax non-arrears certificate. The process is: (1) build the internal scheme; (2) corporate registration (Form 1) and obtain approval; (3) implement proxy repayment; (4) file the grant application (Form 2) by 20 February of the relevant fiscal year, attaching the project plan (Form 3), employee documents (employment contract, employment-insurance proof, resident certificate, JASSO loan documents); (5) file the achievement report (Form 5) within 30 days of completion or by 31 March (whichever is earlier); (6) submit the payment request (Form 6). Registration validity is three fiscal years from approval date (renewable). Inquiries: Okawa City Planning Division, Tel 0944-85-5553.