The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has announced a significant policy change, stating that upkeep loans for students in Nigerian tertiary institutions will now be strictly tied to the academic session of their respective institutions. This directive, disclosed by NELFUND's spokesperson, Oseyemi Oluwatuyi, aims to ensure a fair, transparent, and accurate disbursement of funds aligned with each institution's academic schedule.

Under the new policy, upkeep disbursements for a given academic session will automatically cease as soon as that academic year concludes. Consequently, students transitioning into a new academic year will no longer receive upkeep payments for the preceding session. To qualify for both institutional charges and upkeep allowances, interested applicants are advised to submit their loan applications at the commencement of every academic session. The NELFUND loan portal is being automated to reflect this adjustment, displaying only the upkeep loans collected by each student within the relevant session.

NELFUND cited two primary reasons for this decision. Firstly, tertiary institutions in Nigeria do not operate under a harmonised academic calendar, making a unified disbursement schedule challenging. Secondly, the measure is intended to prevent duplicate upkeep payments to the same student within the same institution and academic session. To facilitate this policy and ensure students receive their full upkeep benefits, tertiary institutions are strongly advised to upload their academic calendars and sessional information in a timely manner.

NELFUND provides two main categories of loans to students in public universities. One category covers loans for school fees or institutional charges, which, upon approval, are disbursed directly to the institution's account on behalf of the student. The second category is a monthly upkeep loan of N20,000, serving as a stipend for the student. This amounts to N240,000 annually. It is important to note that students can opt to receive the loan for institutional charges without applying for the monthly upkeep loans. Furthermore, the N20,000 monthly allowance will only be enjoyed during active academic sessions, with payments suspended during holidays.

NELFUND also clarified various reasons why a student's loan application might be rejected. At the initial application stage, rejections can occur due to incomplete or unclear documentation, incorrect account details, or a mismatch of names across official documents. At the institutional verification stage, an application may be declined if an institution has not verified or has explicitly refused to approve a student's details for its own reasons. For upkeep loan applications specifically, rejection may occur if the academic session being applied for has already closed, based on information provided directly by the respective institutions.

In the event of a rejected application for any of these reasons, NELFUND assures students that they can reapply by simply choosing the new academic session. For full transparency, all specific rejection reasons are clearly stated on each applicant’s dashboard, enabling students to understand and address any issues.