Over 26,000 Students Fail To Repay Loans

At least 26,240 students from public and private tertiary institutions were owing the Student Loan Trust Fund (SLTF) GH�8.5 million, in 2012. Of this number, 12,000 are expected to commence repayment this year, having exhausted their grace period. A target of GH�5.5 million has been set for the loan recover, exceeding last year�s GH�2,064,826.12. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Fund, Kokui Adu, made these disclosures at a press conference in Accra yesterday, to take stock of the operations of the Trust in 2012, and its projections for this year, especially in the area of loan recovery. She said this year�s repayment was expected from two batches of polytechnic students and one batch of university students, and promised the Fund would intensify its monitoring and tracing processes, in pursuit of an aggressive loan recovery agenda. Mrs. Adu said, �testing methodology is used to identify the needs of each individual and meet the funding gap and establish loan amount which range between GH�450 and GH�1,200�. On what strategies would be adopted for the recovery, she pointed out that the SLTF Act, 2011, (Act 820, Section 26) which gives legal backing to its operations, would be enforced, adding that robust recovery structures such as frequent communication with borrowers, good record management, tracing, locating, billing and monitoring of repayments had been put in place, including effective collaboration with major stakeholders and constituents. Analyzing last year�s recoveries, Mrs. Adu indicated that repayment were received from 3,518 borrowers, with 524 of them making voluntary repayments of GH�574,617.38 while the Controller and Accountant General�s Department made full payroll deductions from 1,600 identified borrowers on government payroll, which it to be sustained until full recovery.