No Fees Stress: 312,448 Students Benefit From Policy Costing State GH¢888 Million
- Over 312,000 students have benefited from the government's 'No Fees Stress' policy, costing GH¢888 million
- The 2024/2025 academic year saw 152,000 beneficiaries, while 159,000 benefited in 2025/2026
- Over 600 law students also received aid through the Students’ Loan Trust Fund
The government has said 312,448 first-year tertiary students benefited from the ‘No Fees Stress’ policy.
The Minister for Education, Haruna Iddrisu, told Parliament this cost over GH¢888 million.
Source: Facebook
Answering questions on the floor of Parliament on June 18, he said the 2024/2025 academic year recorded 152,000 beneficiaries for GH¢399 million, while 159,000 students have benefited so far in the 2025/2026 academic year for GH¢489 million.
"This is what we have done to support young people’s desires to access tertiary education. Our policy remains access, relevance and quality."
The Minister also disclosed that 610 students of the Ghana School of Law have received support through the Students’ Loan Trust Fund.
About the No-Fee Stress policy
President John Dramani Mahama launched the policy in July 2025. Since the policy was launched, at least 42,000 first-year students in public tertiary institutions have been covered by the policy.
The no-fee stress policy is meant to be flexible and not binding on all parents. The government has indicated that parents who want to pay academic fees will be allowed to do so.
The policy was introduced as part of an NDC campaign pledge and is managed under the Student Loan Trust Fund.
Though it was initially the plan, the government has since said it will no longer refund fees directly to students who paid their fees before the no-fee stress policy.
Source: Facebook
Deputy Education Minister Dr Clement Apaak explained that funds will rather be credited toward second-year tuition fees.
In the 2025 budget, GH¢499.8 million was allocated for the No-Academic-Fee policy for all first-year students in public tertiary institutions under the ‘No-Fees-Stress’ initiative.
The government has also uncapped the GETFund in the hope of making available dedicated funds for the full financing of free tertiary education for Persons with disabilities.
Economist worried about the bigger picture
The promise to scrap university tuition for first-year students has been met with some scepticism.
An applied economist, Alfred Appiah, believes the tuition promise is a misplaced priority due to Ghana’s economic challenges and upcoming debt servicing after defaults that led to an IMF bailout.
Appiah felt Ghana could not afford any interventions like extra free education.
Africa Education Watch's Senior Programme Officer, Divine Kpe, at the time said the proposal is welcome but needs to be targeted at needy people.
SLTF names and shames defaulters and guarantors
Meanwhile, YEN.com.gh reported that the Student Loan Trust Fund (SLTF) had published the names of 102 individuals who have defaulted on their loan payments.
The list included details such as the borrowers' names, institutions attended, loan amounts, and the names of guarantors.
The SLTF has demanded immediate repayment from defaulters, with further batches to be named if loans are left unpaid.
Source: YEN.com.gh
