Ghana’s Vice President Bawumia Launches No Guarantor Student Loan Policy

Ghana’s Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia has launched a ‘No Guarantor Student Loan Policy’ to allow students in tertiary institutions to access loans without providing guarantors.

At the launch, he released some startling statistics on access to student loans adding that the need to change that negative narrative was the reason for the initiative.

Statistics show that out of 325,000 students in Ghana who applied for student’s loan in the 2019/20 academic year, only 9.6% were able to access the loan.

Similarly, only 8.4% of eligible students could access loans in 2016/2017, 9.8% in 2017/18 and 8.6% in 2015/16.

In the 2019/20 academic year, 42% of loan applicants could not submit their completed forms because of difficulty finding eligible guarantors

He said with the new policy, the cumbersome and restrictive old policy of students providing three SSNIT contributors as guarantors before they could access student loans for tertiary education has been abolished.

The new policy now makes it possible for qualified students to access loans to fund their tertiary education using their Ghanacard.

Speaking at the launch, Vice President Bawumia said the coming into fruition of the pro-poor policy, would remove barriers and significantly increase inclusive access to tertiary education.

Dr Bawumia said the removal of the guarantor requirement is a critical first step to ensuring cost is not a barrier to access and participation in tertiary education.

The Vice President noted that globally, loans have enabled financially challenged individuals to go through Universities and pay after graduation.

Bawumia said the government promised to remove the guarantor requirement as a condition for loan access and in fulfilment of this promise, the government has revised the policy; hence, tertiary students will not have to present a Guarantor to access student loans.

He also expressed delight that the No Guarantor Student Loan Policy has been made possible through the Ghanacard thanks to the investment the government has made in digital infrastructure, which has made the Ghanacard a reliable national identity card for Ghanaians.

He further stated that this is one of the benefits the country derives from prioritizing digitalization adding that it is at the core of every serious economic management.