2nd tranche of no guarantor students loan disbursed: GH¢11.2 million paid to 10,000 students
The Students Loan Trust Fund (SLTF) has released the second tranche of the guarantor-free students loans to applicants.
This latest tranche, amounting to GH¢11.2 million, is being disbursed to 10,000 students in 182 tertiary institutions across the country following their successful completion of the application process.
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It is the second payment being made in three months, after the official launch of the ‘No Guarantor Loan Policy’ in June, this year in Kumasi.
Relief for students
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the SLTF, Nana Kwaku Agyei Yeboah, who disclosed this to the Daily Graphic yesterday, said the release followed the completion of the latest applications received by the SLTF after the release of the first batch of payments of GH¢12 million to applicants last July.
He said the cancellation of the ‘guarantor required’ policy had removed a major barrier to students’ easy accessibility to tertiary education.
He commended President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for introducing the ‘No Guarantor Policy’ which had eased the burden on many students who, hitherto, could not get people to guarantee their loan application forms.
Again, the CEO commended President Akufo-Addo for releasing the needed funds to ensure that the students had the required funds to support their education.
Access
Nana Yeboah encouraged tertiary students who were yet to apply to the scheme for assistance to do so to enable them to also benefit from the loan, which was readily available to all qualified students, irrespective of their political, social, religious and ethnic orientation.
He indicated that every effort was being made to ensure that no student was denied education due to lack of funding.
Recently, the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, announced that students applying for admission to tertiary institutions would at the same time fill out student loan application forms so that when offered admission, funds would be ready for their admission processes.
The SLTF CEO appealed to beneficiaries of the scheme to ensure that they voluntarily paid back their loans to ensure that the government got enough funds at all times to run the scheme for the benefit of others.
Recall
Last June, government rolled out the ‘No Guarantor Students Loan Policy’ to make it easier for students in tertiary institutions to access loans to support their education.
The policy, launched by Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, took immediate effect.
To ensure that beneficiaries received their funds without many challenges, they are required to have E-zwich cards, smart cards issued by the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement System Limited (GhIPSS), for easy transfer, as well as their Ghana cards.
Following its implementation, a total of 10,000 successful applicants from 148 tertiary institutions in the country accessed the loan.
The amount covered payment to only first- time applicants from the University of Education, Winneba, which recorded 1,523, the highest number of beneficiaries, followed by the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, which had 787; the University of Ghana, 511 students; the Koforidua Technical University, 488 students, and the Takoradi Technical University, 371.
Depending on the needs of students after a means-testing assessment by the SLTF before disbursement, successful applicants received amounts ranging from GH¢1,500, the lowest, to GH¢3,000, the highest amount paid for the academic year.