Dr. Saadija Shiraz, Chief Executive Officer of the Students Loan Trust Fund (SLTF), has assured Ghanaian tertiary students that everyone who applied under the government’s “No-Fee Stress” policy has been accounted for, and reimbursements are actively progressing.
She revealed that approximately 200,000 students submitted complete applications across the country.
SLTF further obtained enrollment records from public tertiary institutions for roughly 178,000 students, of which about 166,000 applicants were verified as enrolled.
To date, SLTF has validated around 143,000 students, of whom 120,222 payments have already been disbursed, while approximately 22,000 validated applicants are yet to receive their refunds.
While SLTF strives for comprehensive coverage, validation issues persist.
Dr. Shiraz noted that about 23,000 applications are currently stalled due to inconsistencies such as name mismatches, incorrect programme details, institutional discrepancies, or ID errors.
She emphasized that the team is actively collaborating with institutions to resolve these issues.
“The SLTF continues to work closely with tertiary institutions through its Institutional Portal, which requires each school to appoint two data quality officers to oversee submissions. These representatives work alongside SLTF officials to address discrepancies as they arise.” She noted
Dr. Shiraz again revealed that stakeholder engagement has also been robust as the Trust Fund has met with leadership across tertiary education—ranging from universities and technical schools to colleges of education, agriculture, and health training institutions—to monitor implementation.
The National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) has also been consulted to ensure student perspectives are considered throughout the process.
Dr. Shiraz reiterated SLTF’s commitment to ensuring every applicant is accounted for and reassured that applicant status details can be accessed upon request, stressing, “Everybody who applied for the No-Fee Stress policy is accounted for… we will be able to give you the detail, the data on any student and give you the details of what stage of the applications they are at.”
The “No-Fee Stress” initiative supports only first-year (Level 100) students entering public tertiary institutions. It is not available to continuing Level 200 and above students.
A July 28 update revealed that an additional 36,506 students had received reimbursements, reinforcing SLTF’s stepped delivery strategy.
SLTF spokesperson Mr. Obeng Agyenim Boateng also confirmed earlier that 120,000 students had been paid, while 49,000 were still awaiting reimbursement due to registration or documentation issues.
Students are encouraged to liaise with their respective institutions if they suspect errors in their information.
However, they are to note that their reimbursement will hit their accounts soon if they have been validated.
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