The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Students Loan Trust Fund (SLTF), Dr Saajida Shiraz, has announced that the government has started disbursement under the no-fee stress policy for the 2025/2026 academic year.

Speaking to the media, she said the fund is using a hybrid disbursement model.

She explained that the SLTF has piloted a direct institutions disbursement approach, adding that academic fee support has already been paid to more than 40,000 students directly to selected tertiary institutions, particularly the Colleges of Education, Colleges of Agriculture, and Health Training institutions.

"We have started disbursement for no fee stress for 2025/2026 academic year, this year we have a hybrid disbursement model, I mean that we have piloted a direct institutions disbursement to some selected institutions which are the colleges of education, colleges of Agric and health training institutions.

"So as at now we have paid more than 40,000 students, we have paid their academic fee support directly to those tertiary institutions," she stated.

Dr Shiraz further noted that reimbursement will begin with an initial batch of 10,000 students in public universities and public tertiary institutions. She said this will later be extended to cover 50,000 students for the 2025/2026 academic year.

She also said that, as the SLTF celebrates its 20th anniversary, the organisation wants the celebration to remain focused on its core mandate, making education accessible and removing financial barriers to tertiary education in Ghana.

"As we are celebrating SLTF at 20, we don't want the celebration to let us loose track of our core mandate of making education more accessible to tertiary institutions.

"So we are still very in tune to what our business is, which is to make education accessible and remove financial barriers to access in tertiary education," she said.