The Nigerian Education Loan Fund has announced that the student loan application process for the 2024/2025 academic year will officially begin on February 22, 2025.
The announcement was made by NELFUND’s Managing Director, Akintunde Sawyerr, during a press conference held in Abuja on Monday. He also confirmed that applications for the 2023/2024 academic year would close on February 21, 2025.
Sawyerr explained that this shift to a new cycle demonstrates NELFUND’s commitment to improving transparency, efficiency, and accessibility in the student loan process.
“NELFUND is dedicated to supporting students financially so that no qualified individual is denied education due to a lack of funds,” he said.
Application Statistics and Disbursement Details
Sawyerr provided some impressive statistics about the student loan program’s reach. He revealed that within 220 days, the program received 364,042 applications, averaging about 1,000 applications per day.
“I am pleased to share that N22,736,960,971.58 has been disbursed to cover institutional fees across 150 institutions, benefiting 215,514 students directly,” Sawyerr stated.
He also mentioned that an additional N12,818,960,000 was distributed as upkeep support to 169,114 students. Each of these students receives N20,000 per month to help with living expenses.
Sawyerr reassured students who submitted their applications before the February 21 deadline that their requests would be processed in line with the fund’s guidelines.
“Our team remains fully committed to reviewing all pending applications fairly and efficiently,” he added.
He explained that the shift to a new application cycle is necessary for better alignment with the academic calendar and more streamlined operations.
“This transition will allow us to better align with the academic calendar and improve the efficiency of our application processing,” he said.
Key Insights to Know
NELFUND is currently working on updating its system and student database to identify and remove dropouts who may still be receiving stipends.
According to Mr. Mustapha Iyal, the Executive Director of Operations, this update is crucial to ensure that only eligible students continue to receive support. NELFUND is collaborating with educational institutions to verify enrollment status, as tracking dropouts without this update has proven challenging.
Additionally, students who were part of the 2023-2024 academic session but failed to transition to the 2024-2025 session may no longer receive upkeep stipends.
The upcoming application cycle will also play a role in refining the student database to ensure that only eligible students continue to benefit from the fund.
This new cycle represents a significant step in NELFUND’s mission to make education accessible to all qualified students across Nigeria, providing the financial support necessary to pursue higher education without financial barriers.