Bawumia gives documents needed for no guarantor loan

Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia following the launch of the no guarantor loan policy says students in public tertiary institutions across the country will need only an admission letter and a Ghana Card to access the student loan.

After postponing the launch earlier slated for December 21, 2022, Bawumia officially launched the much-awaited ‘no guarantor student loan policy, at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) on June 8, 2022.

“With this policy, students in tertiary institutions will not need a guarantor to access loans from the Students Loan Trust Fund (SLTF). All that the student needs to access a loan is an admission letter and a Ghana Card,” Dr Mahamudu stated.

The government flagship no guarantor student loan policy, His Excellency Dr Bawumia said is aimed at making tertiary education accessible to all Ghanaians and removing barriers to accessing financial support for tertiary education.

“This is one of the benefits we derive as a country by prioritizing digitalisation. When we said that we were entering the fourth industrial revolution and we were going to build a data-based economy with digitalisation as anchor” he said.

The Vice-President noted that the launch of the tertiary student loan policy is in fulfilment of a promise by the Akufo-Addo government prior to the 2020 elections, which is to make tertiary education accessible to Free SHS graduates.

“We promised to remove the guarantor requirement as a condition for loan access in the 2020 manifesto of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP). In fulfilment of this promise, the Nana Akufo-Addo-led government has revised the policy

Tertiary students in the country will not have to present a guarantor in order to access student loans. Effective this school year, all eligible tertiary students will have to submit their Ghana Card to access the loans

The Loan Policy has been made possible through the Ghana card thanks to the investment the government has made in digital infrastructure, which has made the Ghanacard a reliable national identity card for Ghanaians,” Bawumia said.

Dr Osei Adutwum, the Minister in charge of Education commenting on the loan scheme said the no guarantor policy would ensure that more students got enrolled into tertiary institutions to acquire skills and build human capacity.