Students Loan Trust Fund commences this
academic year
Accra, Nov. 21, GNA - The Students Loan Trust Fund (SLTF),
which would replace the Social Security and National
Insurance Trust (SSNIT) Students Loan Scheme, would
start operating in the 2006/2007 academic year, Mrs
Kokui Adu, Acting Chief Executive Officer of the
Fund, announced at a press briefing on Tuesday.
She said the Fund would this year be managed in
collaboration with SSNIT to ensure authentic
guarantors.
Mrs Adu said loans
would be granted to fresh students, who entered
accredited tertiary institutions this year adding
that the loan amount for students this year would be
based on the programme of study of individual
students.
"The long-term loan
amount would, however, be based on the needs of the
student," she said, explaining that it was likely
that a medical student would need more money than
the one pursuing humanities.
The SLTF would have campus offices that would be the
first point of call for students, she said, and
added that money would be loaned only to students,
who qualified and applied.
Students who qualify
must be financially needy, be pursuing an accredited
programme and must have good academic standards, she
said.
Mrs Adu said the loan
repayment period for a student pursuing a four-year
programme would be 15 years, including the study
period, national service period and a two-year grace
period to look for employment.
"The loans could be
paid by monthly deductions from the beneficiary's
salary through the employer; direct periodic
payments to the Fund by beneficiaries or outright
payment of the total amount. Beneficiaries could
also encourage employers to pay off their loans as
part of working agreements," she said.
Touching on interest
rates, Mrs Adu noted that interest rate on the loan
was not profit but was meant to sustain the Fund for
younger generations.
Sources for funding
would mainly be from the Ghana Education Trust Fund
and would be dependent on loan repayment but the
Fund would also solicit support from development
partners, SSNIT, tax deductions and voluntary
contributions.
Mrs Adu said students
would need individual guarantors, who were SSNIT or
non-SSNIT contributors, Ghanaians, someone who knew
the applicant personally, had employment with at
least eight years to retirement and income, which is
sufficient for guarantee.
She said guarantors
may guarantee up to two applicants but parents could
guarantee for all children.
As an identification
procedure, fingerprints and facial recognitions of
the applicant would be taken. There would also be
guarantee from tertiary institutions that the
student has been enrolled.
The SLTF would
gradually replace the SSNIT loan scheme, Mrs Adu
said.
Ms Elizabeth Ohene,
Minister of State at the Office of the President,
called for support for SLTF to enable the younger
generation to benefit from it.
She encouraged
beneficiaries to re-pay the loans and said funding
must not be a problem for only the trustees but must
be the concern of all.
"No loan can be
free," she said.
Ms Ohene said the
Presidency was interested in how the new loan scheme
worked and assured the public that where there were
difficulties "we will find a solution together.
"Let's make the
scheme work, it may have difficulties but we need
the support of all especially those who access it,"
she said.
Dr Kwabena Quansah,
Chairman of the Fund, said SLTF was established in
December 2005 under the trustee incorporation Act
1962, Act 106, to provide financial resources for
the benefits of Ghanaian students and to promote and
facilitate national ideals.
He noted that the students' loan scheme under SSNIT
gave a lot of problems and even distracted SSNIT
from performing its core functions.
Since 1998, the SSNIT
scheme had disbursed 875.6 billion cedis to 253,493
students and the SLTF hoped to do more, Mr Quansah
said.
GNA
