The Executive Director for Africa Education Watch, Kofi Asare, has bemoaned the low amount disbursed as loan to students in tertiary institutions by the Students Loan Trust Fund (SLTF).
He said the amount is woefully inadequate given the average cost incurred by each student per year.
“The average loan is about 2,400 cedis; that is 1,200 cedis a semester. Ask yourself whether 1,200 cedis can prevent a poor person from dropping out of tertiary,” he said, adding that “especially when the cost of tertiary education averages 15,000 [cedis] a year for humanities and 17,000 [cedis] plus for sciences,” Mr Asare said.
The educationist contended that “obviously the student loan is not consistent; it is not a realistic financial buffer.”
He therefore urged the government to ensure that the fund receives enough resources to be able to pay a “realistic amount of money” to genuine needy students.
Read also: SLTF: Same funding source post no-guarantor policy – Kofi Asare
According to Mr Asare, the funding architecture for the student loan has not been reviewed since the “no-guarantor” policy was introduced.
The main funding source for the SLTF is from recoveries of previous loans, which account for about 65 percent.
Speaking on TV3’s Ghana Tonight programme on Monday, February 19, the education advocate bemoaned the lack of multiple funds to sustain the scheme going forward.
Acknowledging the introduction of the no-guarantor policy, he said, “A guarantor-free student loan scheme was introduced about a year and a half ago for Ghanaian students to be able to access the loan using their Ghana card, which is great.”
The government intended to expand the coverage of beneficiaries of the student loan at the tertiary level.
“The whole idea is to expand access to the loan so the poor or needy students who require funding to access tertiary [education] will not be constrained by virtue of the fact that a relative might not be a SSNIT contributor.
“Unfortunately, we have not been able to provide adequate funds to support the increasing demand for the student loan,” he stated.
Mr Asare further revealed that only about 18,000 out of over 32,000 applicants in 2023 received approval and could have access to the loan. He added that “even for the 18,000, they only received one semester’s tranche.”
In 2022, the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, launched the ‘no-guarantor’ system, which allowed applicants to apply for a loan without having a guarantor. Previously, a guarantor must contribute to SSNIT before they can guarantee any applicant.