Level 100 students in the 2026 cohort of the government’s No-Fees-Stress policy are still waiting to be reimbursed for fees paid at the start of the academic year more than a year after the initiative started. Proposed to help first-year students who apply for funding in public tertiary institutions to lower their financial burden by refunding their academic fees, as long as they have successfully applied through the government’s online portal. Yet several students express disappointment as they feel that they have filled all the applications and are still waiting for the promised refunds.
This delay is placing great financial pressure on many families, particularly as colleges prepare to open again for the next academic year. The impacted students are calling for the government to put clear time frames for the funds being paid up, and for payments to be better communicated with. One student admitted that the delay has seriously worried his family, saying his parents had borrowed before to avoid the repayment.
The family said they expected any refund to go toward the repayment of debts incurred to pay tuition and other essential expenses, he added, but had not gotten formalised communication as to when the money will be paid. An additional student had similar fears; she said that many of her parents relied on the government, which promised to pay her back when he or she arranged how to pay for her children’s education.
The No-Fees-Stress policy continues to be one of the government’s flagship programs to widen access to higher education and ease the financial burden for new students. The affected students are pressuring the government to speed up the reimbursement of such payments so that beneficiaries’ funds will be paid in advance of the next academic semester.
Editor:
Obiri-Yeboah
