The Students Loan Trust Fund (SLTF) has apologised to students across the country over the delay in 2018/19 disbursement of loans and said it was working assiduously to restore the situation to normalcy.

A statement copied to the Ghana News Agency and signed by Mr George Ferguson Laing, the Senior Public Relations Manager of SLTF, noted that the Fund recognised that tens of thousands of students relied on the loans for various uses, including the payment of fees, accommodation, the purchase of books and general living expenses.

It explained that at the beginning of the 2017/18 academic year, the loan amount was increased by 50 per cent and therefore resulted in a surge in applications, putting a strain on the Fund.

“We have engaged with the relevant stakeholders including the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance and the GETFUND to make financing available to pay students by the end of November”, the statement noted. According to the statement, the SLTF has been communicating with student leadership over the step to resolve the issue that had caused inconvenience, and appealed to the wider student body to bear with them as they took measures to rectify the situation.

“The SLTF takes its mandate of providing timely financial assistance to students who need it seriously and would like to assure the general public that this situation is a temporary one, which is being addressed with the long term view in mind,” the statement said. The students Loan Trust Fund was established in December 2005 under the Trustee Incorporation Act 1962, Act 106.

As part of reforms to make accredited tertiary education more accessible to the majority of qualified Ghanaian students, the Government of Ghana passed the Student Loan Trust Fund Act, Act 820 (2011) for the efficient and effective disbursement of financial resources to tertiary students.

The Trust Fund has the responsibility to recover loans from students after the completion of their tertiary education.

The principal objectives of the Fund are to provide financial resources for the sound management of the Trust for the benefit of students and to help promote and facilitate the national ideals enshrined in Article 25 and 38 of the 1992 Constitution.