Govt extends application deadline for study loans

More than 20,000 students from various government universities are relieved after  government bowed to pressure and considered extension of the deadline for study loans.

The move is meant to cater for Makerere, Lira, Soroti, Gulu and Kyambogo universities that have not admitted students yet.

Addressing journalists at the Uganda Media Centre yesterday, the Executive Director of the Higher Education Students Financing Board (HESFB), Mr Michael Wanyama, said students from various universities and other tertiary institutions that have not yet admitted learners were in panic after failing to meet the initial deadline of yesterday.

Mr Wanyama revealed that a number of students and managers of universities  had petitioned the board to extend the deadline.
Thus, the board has extended the application for study loans from today to January 15, 2022.

“While the board had set the deadline for application for midnight November 30, it was established that some universities had not completed the admission exercise while others, most especially the tertiary institutions that admit students on diploma programmes, have not yet started the admission process,” Mr Wanyama said.

He asked the affected universities to admit students within the extended period warning that there will be no more extension.
However, the extension caters for only students from the five universities, people living with disabilities as well as students from Karamoja sub-region.

Meanwhile, Mr Wanyama said the board will proceed to process and issue out study loans to all applicants who have applied by the deadline timeline.

Mr Wanyama revealed that the list of beneficiaries in the first slot will be released in December while those in institutions that delayed or admitted students will  be out in February 2022.

Government reopened all institutions of higher learning (universities and Other tertiary institutions) on November 1 but only continuing students who had joined these institutions commenced their studies.

First year students who sat for the 2019 Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education did not report for studies since most universities had not completed the admission exercise.

Whereas these categories of students have started their studies in some institutions, the majority are slated to start their studies next year, once the current first year students have progressed to second year.

Officials from various universities that had not concluded the exercise have indicated that by end of December, all their students will have received admission letters.

Prof Eli Katunguka, the vice chancellor of Kyambogo University, explained that they were delayed because they were switching from the Academic Information Management System (AIMS) to a new scheme dubbed ACMIS (Academic Certified Management Information System.

“The transition took a lot of time but I can assure our students that we have captured all the information and by December 15, we should have finished the verification process and should have the admission lists,” Prof Katunguka said.

The government is slated to give study loans to 1,600 needy students who want to pursue degree and diploma programmes.

The loans cover tuition, functional, and any other fees required by the learning institutions. They also cover aids and appliances for people with disabilities. Online applications officially kicked off yesterday with suitable candidates expected to demonstrate a financial need.

Since 2014, the board has awarded loans to 11,187 beneficiaries (9,632 undergraduate degrees and 1,555 undergraduate diplomas) to study 130 degree programmes and 76 diploma courses.

At least 3,000 loan beneficiaries have completed their studies and are slated to start servicing their loans.