Students Loan Trust owed GHS75m – over 55,000 defaulted since 2012 More than 55,000 people owe the Students Loan Trust Fund (SLTF) GH¢75 million, representing default in the repayment of the loans students took to cushion them while in school.
Out of the number, about 35,000 have made some form of payment, leaving more than 20,000 who have not paid anything at all, after the two-year grace period for repayment elapsed.
The debt standing in the names of those who have not paid anything at all stands at GH¢35 million.
With some of the debts dating as far back as 2012 from the first batch of beneficiaries who took the loan in 2006, the fund managers have warned the borrowers that they will begin to publish the names and pictures of the defaulters in the national dailies in the coming weeks.
The measure, according to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the fund, Nana Kwaku Agyei Yeboah, was to improve inflow into the fund to satisfy the needs of the thousands of applicants expected this academic year.
He told the Daily Graphic that the recovery rate of the fund was currently 65 per cent.
Data from the fund indicated that 35 per cent (about 7,000) of borrowers who had not paid anything to the fund said they were unemployed.
However, Mr Yeboah said “the payment of the loan is not contingent on being employed. Even for those who are not working, the amount used in buying airtime alone could be saved to defray part of the loan”.
Projections
The fund has projected that it will cost about GH¢189 million to provide loans for the almost 50,000 tertiary students who are likely to apply for loans in the 2020/2021 academic year.
The estimated number of applicants represents 10 per cent of the annual tertiary enrolment, which is expected to hit 145,000 in the 2020/2021 academic year.Those figures, Mr Yeboah said, made it necessary for borrowers to fulfil their obligation to the fund to ensure its sustainability, as it anticipated a rise in new applicants, especially brilliant, needy students, from next year. Recovery trip As part of its recovery plan, the fund managers recently visited the United States to engage Ghanaians in the Diaspora who had taken loans or guaranteed for students to make good their promise, while calling for voluntary contributions from them.Mr Yeboah said the trip took the team to the Ghana Mission in New York, the […]
