Over 30,000 loan applicants to know fate on Nov 26
HESLB executive director, Mr Abdul-Razaq Badru. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
- According to HESLB, only 10,562 students out of the 32,777 are needed to get the required 177,000 beneficiaries for the academic year 2022/23 (both first-year and continuing students), meaning at least over 20,000 students will miss out on the loans.
Dar es Salaam. Over 30,000 students who appealed to the Higher Education Student Loans Board (HESLB) after being dissatisfied with missing out on the loans list have six more days to know their fate for the academic year 2022/23.
The group consists of the would-be first-year undergraduate students who applied for loans when the application window was opened, with only 68,460 applicants succeeding as of yesterday.
Yesterday, the HESLB officially closed the appeal window that was open for about seven days, from November 13 this month, where a total of 32,777 students appealed, according to HESLB media brief.
“Those who appealed and have qualified for the loans will be announced on Saturday, November 26. Students will get detailed information in their Student’s Individual Permanent Account (SIPA),” said Mr Abdul-Razaq Badru, HESLB executive director in Dar es Salaam.
Mr Badru further noted that until yesterday, a total of 166,438 students had been allocated loans worth Sh424.5 billion, among them 68,460 first-year students and 97,978 continuing students.
According to HESLB, only 10,562 students out of the 32,777 are needed to get the required 177,000 beneficiaries for the academic year 2022/23 (both first-year and continuing students), meaning at least over 20,000 students will miss out on the loans.
“We still continue to organise loans for continuing students after receiving their supplementary exam papers. We are now sending funds to students from various colleges in the country who are the beneficiaries of the HESLB,” he said.
Meanwhile, HESLB also confirmed that the government has added Sh84 billion to Sh570 billion for higher education loans, bringing the total amount allocated for this year to Sh654 billion, an amount set to benefit a total of 71,000 first-year students.
“The increase has made it possible to allocate loans to the 28,000 additional students and beneficiaries who would not have been lucky due to budget constraints. The information for this group is already on the SIPA accounts and is being delivered to the colleges in batches for registration and payment,” Mr Badru explained.
He urged loan applicants to be calm while the process of arranging loans for qualified students through referrals continues. “After completing and announcing the responses to the appeal, all students will be advised of the next steps,” he said.
