Higher Education Costs & Student Loans
One final issue that I encountered in my secondary school, as well as traveling and meeting other people, was the lack of loans available for students wishing to attend a University. While Ghana does have a student loan program available, called the student loan trust fund (SLTF), there are many issues present. A part of the program involves government subsidies of interest rates to make the loans more affordable to students. Unfortunately, the government has had a difficult time in keeping up with their part of the interest, which has in turn has created higher interest rates. The qualifications for receiving a loan have also proven impossible for many of the students that I met in my time there. Francis Atuahene suggests, “a more efficient student loans scheme should strike the balance between lenders risk and borrowers aversion” (2008).
I met a few people within a wide age range, all of whom dream of attending University. One I met while visiting Wli Waterfalls, a tourist attraction in the Volta Region. Our tour guide had recently graduated from junior secondary school, and wanted desperately to be able to attend University. He said that he, however, had no chance of doing so as the cost was too high, and his parents were not cocoa farmers, who's children have access to scholarships. I thought that this was strange, but indeed when looking at financial aid pages of a few of Ghana's universities (http://www.ug.edu.gh/index1.php?linkid=294), sources of financial aid include the following:
Nowhere on that list are government sponsored funds, grants or loans. Scholarships available are typically sponsored by NGOs, or by the "corporate bodies" that include a few of the major industries of Ghana. Unfortunately, this leaves many students behind, particularly those in rural and subsistence farming communities where there is no larger corporate sponsor available.
I met a few people within a wide age range, all of whom dream of attending University. One I met while visiting Wli Waterfalls, a tourist attraction in the Volta Region. Our tour guide had recently graduated from junior secondary school, and wanted desperately to be able to attend University. He said that he, however, had no chance of doing so as the cost was too high, and his parents were not cocoa farmers, who's children have access to scholarships. I thought that this was strange, but indeed when looking at financial aid pages of a few of Ghana's universities (http://www.ug.edu.gh/index1.php?linkid=294), sources of financial aid include the following:
- University of Ghana Funds
- Corporate Bodies
- Churches
- Non-Governmental Organizations
- Alumni
- Students
- Individuals
Nowhere on that list are government sponsored funds, grants or loans. Scholarships available are typically sponsored by NGOs, or by the "corporate bodies" that include a few of the major industries of Ghana. Unfortunately, this leaves many students behind, particularly those in rural and subsistence farming communities where there is no larger corporate sponsor available.