HIGHER Education Students’ Loans Board (HESLB) has released first batch of 10,196 successful loan applicants for first year undergraduate courses, set to begin late this month.
A total of 34.6bn/- has been earmarked to finance the studies for the applicants pending other batches to be announced any day before opening of universities at the end of this month. The 10,196 were selected out of 32,495 applicants who sought loans to finance the first year of their undergraduate courses.
The vetted names were those without double selection as the board insisted that one of the main criteria for an applicant to secure a loan is to get enrolled in one university, but some applicants have been selected by more than one institution and did not confirm with either of them.
The HESLB told the applicants selected by more than one university that they would only qualify if they confirm to join one of those higher learning institutions.
“We would like to inform loan applicants that after thorough vetting, we have managed to complete the list for the first batch. Our aim is to issue loans to all successful candidates before the opening of the universities at the end of this month,” HESLB’s Executive Director Abdul-Razaq Badru said in a statement.
The HESLB issued a statement yesterday, saying the next lists of successful applicants are expected to complete the total number of 30,000 first year students, expected to benefit from the 108.8bn/- set aside for the 2017/18 financial year.
“The board is appealing to applicants to be patient as it continues to finalise the next lists of successful applicants,” he said. Meanwhile, Mr Badru explained that the government has this year allocated 318bn/- for students continuing with their studies.
He has dismissed rumors that the board was expecting to disburse loans for continuing students starting yesterday.