For thousands of Nigerian students, the cost of staying in higher education is no longer being left entirely to families.
The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has now disbursed N355.87 billion under the Federal Government’s student loan programme, marking a major expansion of the scheme since applications opened on May 24, 2024.
NELFUND’s latest Student Loan Disbursement Status Report, generated on September 3, 2026 and published on its official X account on Thursday, puts the number of processed applications at 1,659,853.
The money has been split between institutions and students. N192.89 billion has been paid to 319 beneficiary institutions for institutional fees, while N162.98 billion has been released directly to students as upkeep allowances.
Together, the two components bring the programme’s total disbursement to N355.87 billion.
The scale of the intervention has changed considerably over the past year. In March 2026, NELFUND reported that it had disbursed N206.29 billion to 1,164,222 beneficiaries, with 1,734,985 applications received at the time.
By August 19, 2026, disbursements had risen to N322.69 billion. The institutional payment at that stage stood at N192.89 billion to 319 institutions, while students had received N129.80 billion in upkeep allowances.
The latest report shows that the institutional payment figure remains at N192.89 billion, while upkeep disbursements have risen from N129.80 billion to N162.98 billion.
The student loan programme was introduced to tackle one of the most persistent barriers to tertiary education: the ability of students and their families to meet the financial demands of university and other higher institutions.
Its reach has grown alongside the number of applications being processed, although the expansion has also exposed weaknesses that NELFUND has had to address.
In January 2026, the fund disclosed N927.98 million in unpaid upkeep allowances owed to 11,685 students. It linked the outstanding payments to failed transactions, network downtime and unvalidated bank details.
Further complaints emerged in July, when some beneficiaries raised concerns about delays in receiving their upkeep allowances.
NELFUND has also been changing the machinery behind tuition payments. In July, the fund announced plans to replace its system of paying tuition fees directly to tertiary institutions with a digital token-based system.
The proposed system is expected to give students greater control over tuition payments and help reduce cases of double payment.
The expansion of NELFUND is taking place alongside other Federal Government spending on tertiary education.
In July, the Federal Government said it had invested more than N1 trillion in tertiary education over two years, with the funding directed towards infrastructure, institutional capacity and efforts to reduce the financial obstacles confronting students.
Among the projects and interventions cited were N250 billion for new hostels, more than N150 billion for the rehabilitation of hostels, classrooms, engineering workshops and other academic facilities, and over N130 billion for medical school rehabilitation.
Taken together, the figures point to an attempt to address both sides of Nigeria’s tertiary education challenge: improving the institutions where students learn while making it easier for students to afford their education.
NELFUND’s N355.87 billion disbursement reflects the rapid growth of a national student financing system that has processed nearly 1.66 million applications in just over two years.
The next measure of its impact will not simply be how much more money is released, but how consistently students receive it, how efficiently institutions are paid and how effectively the system can scale without leaving beneficiaries waiting for the support they were approved to receive.
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