Accra: The Students Loan Trust Fund (SLTF) announced that 42,223 students have successfully registered for the 'No-Academic-Fee policy' for all first-year students in public tertiary institutions out of the total students of 156,294 across the country. As at noon of Wednesday, May 21, a total of 59,570 students have accessed the portal, while 17,367 were filling in their details to complete the registration.
According to Ghana News Agency, Mr Ismail Yaro, the Public Relations Officer of SLTF, stated that the registration was crucial to obtain banking details of students who had paid their fees for the 2024/2025 academic year for reimbursement. He mentioned that the Fund would also be conducting an audit and validating the lists submitted by the heads of public tertiary institutions.
Mr Yaro further explained that the authorities were considering reimbursing the 2025/2026 allocation directly to the public universities. The Government, in the 2025 Budget Statement, allocated GHS499.8 million for the No-Academic-Fee Policy for all first-year students in public tertiary institutions. This initiative led to the launch of the 'No-Fees-Stress' portal, managed by SLTF under the Ministry of Education, aiming to alleviate the financial burden on newly admitted students.
The Fund is set to be relaunched in the third week of June to increase publicity and encourage more students to apply. While some students faced access issues with the portal, Mr Yaro assured that these were addressed by IT officials. He urged all first-year students to register and verify their eligibility for the funding through the portal: www.nofeesstress.sltf.gov.gh.
