Government asks students to apply for university loans
What you need to know:
- Science courses including Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery, Dental Surgery, Nursing Pharmacy, among other courses, have been maintained.
- Eighteen universities both public and private universities are eligible for the loan scheme including Makerere, Kyambogo, Gulu, Kabale, Lira, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Muni, Soroti, Bishop Stuart, Bugema, Islamic University in Uganda, Kampala International University, Nkumba , Uganda Christina University and Kampala University.
Kampala. The government yesterday called for applications for study loans from Ugandan students who have been admitted for undergraduate and diploma programmes for the academic year 2017/2018.
According to the executive director of Higher Education Students’ Financing Board, Mr Michael Wanyama, only 1,200 students are slated to benefit from the students’ loans with the deadline for application slated for August 4. Higher Education Students’ Financing Board is in charge of the scheme.
He said unlike in the previous years where the scheme could only cater for students opting for science courses, the government has this year extended the student loan scheme to Arts courses including students with special needs.
According to Mr Wanyama, the board will give an opportunity to students with disabilities who previously have not been applying for courses outside the science scope which the government started with. “We have included humanities this time round but only students with disabilities will be taken care of for law, social sciences and Bachelor of Arts in Education courses alone,” he said.
Students falling outside the special needs will only be considered for Arts course in Bachelor of Education, Special Needs Education, Bachelor of Speech and Language Therapy and Bachelor of Teacher Education with Special Needs Education.
Science courses including Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery, Dental Surgery, Nursing Pharmacy, among other courses, have been maintained. Mr Wanyama highlighted that despite the expansion in the new programmes, the number of beneficiaries remains at 1,200 due to limited resources.
He said the Arts course have been limited to the original few courses because the board selected more critical courses.
Application
Off line application requires applicants to get a hard copy of the application from the participating universities, office of the academic registrar while applicants applying online should access the forms on HESFB website upon paying Shs50,000 non-refundable fee.
Eighteen universities both public and private universities are eligible for the loan scheme including Makerere, Kyambogo, Gulu, Kabale, Lira, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Muni, Soroti, Bishop Stuart, Bugema, Islamic University in Uganda, Kampala International University, Nkumba , Uganda Christina University and Kampala University.
