The Students Loan Trust Fund (SLTF) has opened the portal for applications for prospective students in tertiary institutions for the 2024-2025 academic year. 

It said students in institutions which re-opened in September/October could go ahead and apply, and that applicants who had secured their admission letters but were finding it difficult to raise funds to take up places in the institutions could also apply for the SLTF to pay on their behalf.

The Chief Executive Officer of the SLTF, Nuhu Bayorbo Mahama, told the Daily Graphic that the good news was that “If you are not even a student and your intention is for you to use the student loan to pay for your admission, now there's an “opportunity there for you too”.

Admission

“Those who have got admission, but are finding it difficult to get money to pay admission, can also apply and indicate whether we should pay for them so that we can go ahead and do so,” he said.

He said once applicants indicated that they wanted the money to be paid as an admission fee, the process to pay the money would be completed within two days.

He said once a student had got his/her admission letter, all that the person needed to do was to log into the SLTF portal on www.sltf.gov.gh, go and apply for the student loan.

Mr Mahama said because of the non-guarantor system, applicants were required to possess their Ghana Card, which made them eligible to apply.

He emphasised that the money would not be paid directly to the individual applicant but to his/her institution.

He advised those who did not have the Ghana Card to try and go for it since it was a key requirement for access to a loan from the SLTF, and that as students, it would not take them too long to get the cards.

Disburse

For the 2023-2024 academic year, he said the trust fund was able to disburse to support about 49,252 students, and that the amount involved was GH¢82 million for the period.

“So, we want this information to be out there for them to be aware that when you apply for the student loan, we are definitely going to pay you.

“So just take advantage of the loan and use it to support your education. We want people to be aware that this is the chunk of money we paid for the last academic year,” he said.

Meanwhile, the SLTF last Monday held a financial literacy programme for students, especially borrowers.

“We want them to be aware of the impact of the individual credit score as it had been launched by the Vice President. So, now, in Ghana, going forward, all the credits that you took are going to impact your scores, hence a need for us as Student Loan Trust Fund to let our borrowers be aware of the impact in case they default, or if in case they paid their loan,” he said.

Paying their loans, he said, would enhance or improve the credit worthiness of a student.

During the programme, he said about 1,800 students took part in the financial sensitisation programme to let them know about the impact of individual credit scores.

The SLTF is a public institution established under the Trustee Incorporation Act 1962, Act 106 to provide financial resources for the benefit of students and to promote and facilitate the national ideals as enshrined in Articles 25 and 38 of the 1992 Constitution. It is to replace the SSNIT Student Loan Scheme.