Student Loan is not realistic – Kofi Asare
Kofi Asare
Kofi Asare, the Executive Director for Africa Education Watch, has expressed doubts about the effectiveness of the Student Loan Trust Fund (SLTF) in providing access to tertiary education for financially disadvantaged but academically talented students.
He highlighted that the current form of the SLTF only provides an average of GH¢2,400 per year to students, which falls significantly short of the average cost of tertiary education in the country, estimated at around GH¢15,000 per year.
“The average loan is about 2,400 cedis, equivalent to 1,200 cedis per semester. One must question whether 1,200 cedis can truly prevent a financially disadvantaged individual from dropping out of tertiary education, especially when the average cost of humanities programs is around 15,000 cedis per year, and for sciences, it exceeds 17,000 cedis per year,” stated Asare.
Based on these figures, Asare argued that the student loan provided by the SLTF is not a realistic financial buffer and fails to offer genuine financial support to needy students.
As a result, Asare called on the government to allocate sufficient resources to the SLTF to enable the provision of a more realistic amount of money to students who genuinely require financial assistance.
Mr. Asare further expressed concern that the funding structure for the student loan has not been reviewed since the introduction of the “no-guarantor” policy. Currently, approximately 65 percent of the funding for the SLTF comes from recoveries of previous loans.
Speaking on TV3’s Ghana Tonight program, Asare emphasized the need for multiple funding sources to sustain the student loan scheme in the long term.
While acknowledging the positive aspect of the “no-guarantor” policy, which allows Ghanaian students to access the loan using their Ghana card, Asare lamented the inadequate funds available to meet the increasing demand for student loans.
He revealed that in 2023, out of over 32,000 applicants, only about 18,000 received approval for the loan, and even those approved received only one semester’s tranche.
In 2022, the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, launched the ‘no-guarantor’ system to expand the coverage of beneficiaries of the student loan at the tertiary level. The aim was to ensure that financially needy students who lacked a guarantor who was an SSNIT contributor could still access the loan.
However, the insufficient funds allocated to support the growing demand for student loans have hindered the successful implementation of the initiative.
SOURCE: Coverghana.com.gh
