Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has launched the ‘No Guarantor Student Loan’ policy at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, on Wednesday June 8, 2022.
The policy, he said, was a promise made by the Akufo-Addo government prior to the 2020 elections to make tertiary education accessible to Ghanaian youth, especially graduates from the highly subscribed Free Senior High School programme.
“With the No Guarantor Student Loan, the cumbersome and restrictive scheme of students providing SSNIT contributors as guarantors before they could access student loan for tertiary education, has been abolished.
“The No Guarantor Student Loan policy makes it possible for qualified young Ghanaians to access loans to fund their tertiary education, using their Ghanacard,” he said in a Facebook post after the launch.
The promise to abolish the guarantor system was welcomed by some key stakeholders.
For instance, the Chief Executive Officer for Student Loan Trust Fund (SLTF), Nana Kwaku Agyei Yeboah, after welcoming the promise, described the decision as brave and laudable, which would go a long way towards allowing many tertiary students to access the loan.
- Bawumia advises mining businesses to invest and list on local stock markets.
- Vice President Bawumia calls for protection of investors from systemic risks.
In an interview on Yensempa on Onua FM on Monday, September 14 2020, Mr Agyei Yeboah revealed that the guarantorship over the years had been a hindrance to applicants and he would on any day opt for its abolishment.
He noted that out of 326, 571 students who were admitted into tertiary institutions in 2017-2018 academic year only 31,980 applied and successfully acquired the student loan, representing 9.8%.
Similarly, in the 2018-2019 academic year, out of 347,170 students admitted into tertiary institutions, only 30,870, representing 9 per cent applied and successfully acquired the loan.
He, however, ascribed the low number of applicants to the difficulties students go through in getting a guarantor who is also a Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) contributor.
By Laud Nartey|3news.com|Ghana
