The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has announced that upkeep loan disbursements will now be tied strictly to the academic sessions of institutions.
This was disclosed in a statement on Thursday by the Fund’s Director of Corporate Communications, Oseyemi Oluwatuyi.
“In line with this directive, students shall only be entitled to upkeep loans for their current academic session. Upon the conclusion of an institution’s academic year, upkeep payments for that session shall automatically cease. Consequently, students who transition into a new academic year will no longer receive upkeep disbursements for the preceding session,” the statement read.
According to NELFUND, applicants are now required to apply at the beginning of each academic session to be eligible for both institutional charges and upkeep for that period.
To enhance transparency, the loan portal is being automated to display only the upkeep loans collected by each student within their current session. The Fund also urged tertiary institutions to promptly upload their academic calendars and sessional details to ensure smooth disbursements.
Apart from direct institutional payments, beneficiaries of the scheme currently receive a monthly upkeep allowance of ₦20,000, amounting to ₦240,000 yearly. With the new directive, however, students will only enjoy the ₦20,000 allowance during active academic sessions, while payments will be suspended during holidays.