The Minister of Education, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, has signalled a potential review of the interest rate structure applied to the Students Loan Trust Fund (SLTF), aiming to make loan repayment more equitable and sensitive to the employment challenges faced by graduates.
Appearing before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in Parliament on Monday, he raised concerns about the current arrangement, which charges compound interest even when beneficiaries remain unemployed after completing school.
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“A student gets a loan and leaves school without any job, and you are compounding interest for the student; mathematically, there is no fairness in that,” he stressed.
Mr Iddrisu proposed consideration of a simple-interest model to reduce the financial pressure on young graduates, while still ensuring the sustainability of the fund. “I do not think it is fair that we compound interest when they do not have jobs,” he added.
In a related development, the SLTF has expanded its coverage to include students at the Ghana School of Law, allowing them access to the loan scheme for the first time.
The Fund is also expected to benefit from a major financial boost, with its allocation increasing from GH¢70 million to GH¢150 million in 2026, an intervention aimed at widening access to higher education across the country.
