Loans board disburses K1.8 billion for needy students

The Higher Education Student’s Loans and Grants Board has distributed over 1.8 billion kwacha to different public and private universities for needy students in the 2016/2017 financial year.

According to executive director of the board Chris Chisoni, only deserving needy students will benefit from the loans as eligibility criteria will be followed.

Chisoni told the local media that over 1.8 billion kwacha as part of tuition fees has been distributed to almost all private universities and some public universities that have opened except Chancellor College and Mzuzu University which are yet to open.

“We will be processing the transfer of student loans to them, Chancellor College will also get their allocations as well after opening and two weeks before opening,” Chisoni explained.

Chisoni further emphasised that the student loans act is clear on who are eligible students to benefit from student loans, as he cited the social economic status of a student and those who have demonstrated effectively in the application forms with tangible and true evidence.

However, noting some few cases of undeserving students accessing loans, the board realised that some students falsified their information in the 2015/16 financial year a development that led to the change of loan form and addition of few more steps of verification and vetting jointly with university administrators, dean of students as well as parents.

In the 2015/16 financial year, out of 10,198 loan applicants only 4,474 students were granted loans by the board from 1.2 billion kwacha which was disbursed to needy students.