KAMPALA, June 5, 2024 – The number of beneficiaries of the Students’ Loan Scheme in Uganda has grown to 14, 601, according to the Higher Education Students’ Financing Board [HESFB] that manages the scheme.
This was revealed today at the Uganda Media Centre in Kampala as the Minister for Higher Education, Dr John Chrysestom Muyingo released the list of the 10th cohort of successful loan beneficiaries for the academic year 2023/2024.
According to Muyingo, 1,196 beneficiaries this academic year were added to the students’ loan scheme, out of 1,921 applicants who applied to be considered.
Commenting on the list, Muyingo said, “I am glad to note that a total of 74 districts had all their applicants successful which saw most applicants from the Northern Region leading in the total awards while all the 11 persons with disabilities were successful this year.”
He said since the HESFB started operations, apart from the increasing number of qualified candidates, the number of Chartered Higher Education Institutions has increased from 12 initially to 23 currently, and are all absorbing the beneficiaries of the Students Loan Scheme.
However, the minister said there is a need for more funding to capitalise HESFB as the demand for student loans in the country has surpassed the available resources.
“While initially, applicants averaged at 2,000, the demand now outpaces the available resources with an average of more than 4,000 every year. This is a sign that the lower education interventions are working tremendously well,” he said.
He added: “My Ministry [Ministry of Education and Sports] will seek audience with our counterparts at the Ministry of Finance and colleagues in parliament to lobby for increased funding for the Board [HESFB] so that a target of 3,000 learners’ are supported each year in line with the current Board’s approved strategic plan.”
Clearing outstanding tuition arrears
The minister, an educationist himself, promised that government would pay universities the outstanding arrears arising out of the Students’ Loan Scheme. “I would like to inform the universities that all the outstanding arrears are going to be paid off before the close of the financial year 2023/2024,” he said.
He said HESFB was recently given a total of Shs 13.958 billion to pay off the outstanding domestic arrears owed to the tertiary institutions and also support a new cohort of Learners in the academic year 2023/2024.
The Students’ Loan Scheme was born out of the 2011 Presidential Manifesto following the success of universal education initiatives which brought thousands of learners to the education cycle.
Loan applicants rejected
On his part, HESFB Chairperson, Eng. Dr. Charles Wana-Etyem said 640 applicants were rejected due to falling outside the eligibility criteria. However, he said, of the considered 1,281 eligible applicants, 964 were male while the female applicants were 317.
“Working off a budget of Shs 5.2 billion, the Board was able to support 1,196 beneficiaries, which represents 93.4 percent of the eligible applicants numbering 1,281. This so far represents the highest number of successful applicants to funding ratio in the decade of the Board’s operations,” he said.
However, Wana-Etyem said the 1,921 loan applications received in this academic year represents a significant drop in the number of applicants by 25.8 percent against a total of 2,417 applications received in the academic year 2022/2023, having had a bumper 6,247 applications in the academic year 2021/22.
“While applications in the academic year 2022/23 were affected by the halting of learning due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the low numbers registered in this call for applications which targeted those already enrolled, signify the fact that most qualifying but financially constrained students do not apply for admissions into higher education institutions when there is no hope of access to any financing opportunity,” he said.
He called for substantial budget allocations and timely funding, saying they are important in providing opportunities to thousands of prospective Ugandan learners to transition from basic education to higher education, adding that the students’ loan scheme has the capacity to overturn the statistics on enrollment to higher education in Uganda.
He said the available resource of Shs 5.2bln will support the beneficiaries with tuition fees, functional fees and aids and appliances for persons with disabilities.
Of the 1,196 selected beneficiaries, 1,056 are Undergraduate degrees and 140 undergraduate diploma applicants. 11 of the beneficiaries are persons with disabilities [PWDs].
Regional balance
Wana-Etyem said HESFB strives to create regional balance in the award of beneficiaries, especially for the Greater Northern region, Karamoja region, and the island districts of Buvuma and Kalangala.
He added: “Given the fact that overall, 9 out of every 10 applicants were supported, every district in Uganda is highly represented with many of them having all applicants being supported in this Cohort.”
The only exceptions were districts where HESFB did not receive any applicants for student loans and these include; Buvuma, Kaabong, Kapelebyong, Kiryandongo, and Lyantonde.
According to the list, this time round, districts that normally post dismal performance in student loan applications had their students considered for loans, thus Madi-Okollo [5]; Nakapiripirit [3]; Napak [5]; Terego [11]; Kalangala [3]. All the eligible applicants were considered by the Board.
Courses sponsored
Analysis of the list shows that he biggest majority of the selected beneficiaries offer health science programmes followed by engineering and information technology programmes, science education, and other natural sciences taking the rest of the slots. Some of the beneficiaries are offering tourism programmes on affirmative action.
Registration of the loans on the Credit Reference Bureau
HESFB has commenced the process of registering the student loans on the Credit Reference Bureau [CRB] to enable it to establish a credit history with beneficiaries, and foster financial accountability amongst the beneficiaries.
With this, the beneficiaries will be required to acquire a certificate of compliance from the Board before they can acquire another loan from other lending institutions. “These efforts…will bring about effective and efficient recovery of these funds we disburse to these learners,” said Wana-Etyem.
Despite the many challenges, it was noted HESFB is registering up to at least 40 percent of former beneficiaries paying back part of their loan obligations including those who are clearing their loans before the end of the grace period.
Increased need for higher education financing
According to Wana-Etyem, Universal Primary Education [UPE], Universal Secondary Education [USE] and later the Universal Post ‘O’ Level Education and Training have produced many learners, which calls for increased funding from government.
“From less than 60,000 who qualified for higher education in the early 2000s, current statistics show that we now have about 150,000 youth who qualify for higher education every year. This is a bumper harvest. However, with the Government Scholarship Scheme only able to support 10,000 each year and only about 40,000 able to pay for themselves, the…Students’ Loan Scheme is the most efficient way to support brilliant but financially constrained young people to access to higher education,” said Wana-Etyem.
Once educated, he said, the beneficiaries will make up Uganda’s labour force and broaden the tax base.
Awareness of the loan scheme has improved
According to CPA. Michael O Wanyama, Executive Director of HESFB, there is improved awareness of the Students’ Loan Scheme by both the parents and the learners, as a result of concerted efforts by the Board to sensitise the public.
“There have been rigorous efforts in awareness campaigns that have been carried out through the community radio programmes; print media; social media through WhatsApp forum; twitter; Facebook accounts among others,” he said, noting that the online application process that was launched five years ago has been accepted by the applicants and is now utilised without any complaints since it is user friendly.
Wanyama said HESFB rarely interacts with the applicants until the selection process is over. “This has ensured total transparency in award of the student loans,” he said.
He said the introduction of the Students’ Loan Scheme has created opportunities for the less privileged learners to access higher education at both undergraduate degree and diploma levels. “It has availed opportunities to many Ugandans who would otherwise not have had a chance to pursue their academic dreams,” he said.
The Students’ Loan Scheme is a revolving fund where the funds from Loan repayments are re-invested to support successive cohort of applicants.
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