The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has announced that upkeep loans for students will now be limited strictly to active academic sessions, and will no longer be paid during school holidays.
In a statement issued on Thursday by its Director of Corporate Communications, Oseyemi Oluwatuyi, NELFUND explained that the decision was to align disbursements with the academic calendar of each institution.
“Students shall only be entitled to upkeep loans for their current academic session. Once an institution’s academic year ends, upkeep payments for that session will automatically stop. Those moving into a new session must reapply to access fresh support,” the statement read.
The Fund advised students to apply for loans at the start of every academic session to be eligible for both tuition-related charges and upkeep allowances for that period.
To ensure transparency, NELFUND said its loan portal is being updated to show only upkeep funds collected within the relevant session. Institutions were also urged to promptly upload their academic calendars and sessional schedules to enable students access full benefits without disruption.
Currently, in addition to tuition support paid directly to institutions, student loan beneficiaries receive a monthly upkeep allowance of ₦20,000, totaling ₦240,000 yearly. With this new directive, however, the monthly stipends will be suspended during holidays and resume only when the academic session is in progress.
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