97 more students benefit from govt loan scheme after appeal

Government has agreed to support 97 more students in higher institutions of learning, who had earlier missed out on the loan scheme.

According to a statement by the Higher Education Students’ Financing Board (HESFB), the students, who appealed for reconsideration after missing out, are now required to join their respective institutions of higher learning.

“HESFB has released a list of applicants, who appealed… their appeals have been considered for support under the Student Loan Scheme for the Academic Year 2019/2020,” the statement read in part.

The statement was issued yesterday by Mr Bob Ambrose Nuwagira, the institution’s spokesperson.
In September, about 1,149 students, who had missed out on tuition loans, designed to assist the needy, appealed to government for reconsideration.

Section 40 of the Higher Education Students Financing Act, 2014, provides that an applicant can appeal the board’s decision to the education minister once they have not been selected.

About 1,851 students were successful at the first attempt, but about 80 dropped off after benefiting from other scholarship schemes such as the State House scholarship, MasterCard Foundation Scholarship, and other government scholarships.

With the new 97 successful applicants, the total number of students benefitting from the student loans scheme for the academic year 2019/20 was put at 1,868.
On September 3, the Junior Minister for Higher Education, Dr John Chrysostom Muyingo, released the list of student loan scheme cohorts for the academic year 2019/2020.

Out of the 7,310 that had applied, 1,834 were selected for the sponsorship, representing a success rate of 23 per cent of the applications received, with 1,216 (66 per cent) being male, while 618 (34 per cent) are female. Of these, 1,464 are undertaking undergraduate degree programmes and 370 diploma studies.

Mr Nuwagira said the successful applicants have been distributed in 16 institutions with 13 offering diploma programmes and 84 undergraduate degree programmes.
Ndejje University, Kampala International University and Makerere University took the majority.

Government policy
Every financial year since 2014, government puts aside Shs5 billion for loans to support students who qualify for science courses but lack funding to join institutions of higher learning.
However, the number of applicants for the loans has been increasing with each passing year.

The board is in the process of recovering loans from 1,700 students, who have since completed their studies, with their one-year grace period lapsing.
The money is recovered in phases from the time the beneficiary gets a job.

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