By Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde
FOR STUDENTS, two days ago I learned about the tragic death of a mother who developed sudden BP after failing to gather enough funds for the last minute registration of her orphan daughter at a federal university in the northwest.
Within a day of illness, the mother died. This got me thinking of means to reduce difficulties for hundreds of thousands of students facing similar challenges on all our campuses. They are well into their courses when the fees were tripled. The students’ loan promised has not taken off and institutions have set deadlines for online registration. Do we sit back as a nation to see the students abandon their studies? No. We must do something. Here are my humble suggestions:
- Installment payments. Higher institutions should allow old students to spread payments over the remaining sessions of their courses, with the caveat that no student shall sit for a semester exams or be issued his certificate without completing his payment. However, an initial deposit, say 30% of the fee, can be required at the beginning of the session or semester.
- Students loan: The Special Committee under the CBN which is statutorily empowered to administer the loan should double its effort to enable a quick take off. Remember that the President once said he would like to meet the first set of beneficiaries of the loan in September.
- Remove Family Earning Cap: The Committee can remove the family earning cap to allow any student to access the loan as the President has ordered.
- Guarantors: State governments can serve as guarantors for their indigenes instead of individuals.
- Online application: The Committee can explore digitizing all or part of the application process to reduce stampede at banks and check corrupt practices like extortion of students by officials of institutions and banks.
- Legislation: To effect these changes, some sections of the Student Loans Act, 2023, need to be amended. This can be expressly done with the cooperation of the National Assembly and the Presidency.
Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde can be reached on Twitter: @Dr_AliyuTilde