The National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) has called on the government to fast-track arrangements for the direct payment of students’ academic fees to universities under theNo Fee Stress policy.

NUGS PresidentRashid Ibrahim said the policy had helped remove financial barriers for many tertiary students, but administrative challenges had resulted in delays in some disbursements.

Speaking on theAsaase Breakfast Show on Monday (10 August), Ibrahim said the delays were largely linked to the compilation and verification of beneficiary lists.

He said the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), the House of Principals and the Students Loan Trust Fund were among institutions involved in validating beneficiary lists before payments could be made.

According to him, discrepancies in students’ identification details and the accreditation status of academic programmes could also delay payments.

“Most of the challenges that we are facing, anytime I give the management of the school, is either mismatch in names, date of birth. So it’s about identity issues and also whether or not those courses are accredited by GTEC,” he said.

Ibrahim said direct disbursement of No Fee Stress funds had already started for students in colleges of education and nursing training institutions.

Under the arrangement, he said, government payments are made directly to the institutions instead of requiring students to pay their fees upfront.

He said NUGS was engaging the Students Loan Trust Fund and university authorities to establish a similar arrangement for university students.

Ibrahim explained that differences in university academic calendars had complicated the process because payments are generally tied to academic semesters.

He said the Students Loan Trust Fund was working with vice-chancellors to determine an appropriate mechanism for universities.

Ibrahim acknowledged that some students had complained about delays in receiving reimbursements after paying their fees, but said he could not independently confirm claims of students waiting since the 2024/25 academic year.

He said NUGS would follow up with institutions where such complaints had been made to determine whether the delays were caused by accreditation or identification issues.

He urged the authorities to complete the process quickly so that university students could benefit from direct disbursement in the same way as students in colleges of education and nursing training institutions.