Re: Students’ loan Act in a nation in dire need for accelerated economic growth and national development ?

It is not loans the students need to have access to tertiary institutions. Tertiary education cannot be free and loans granted by the government without a means of re- paying back , with the burgeoning youth unemployment, is like free education at this level which is not sustainable .

Access to tertiary institutions is not entry into the four walls of tertiary institutions but it is access to the right curricular , right faculty members , right learning environment and at the right time and place in the acquisition of skills , knowledge, and attitudes ( KSAs) for a more accelerated economic growth and national development .

I am more concerned about a more feasible approach to financing tertiary education in Nigeria .

Financing education as an investment in human capital formation rather than consumption , in the right direction to drive national development. This is my concern .

Financing education through loan for students responding to personal and family demand for education is not sustainable but a political statement in the same culture of the politicization of education in Nigeria .

A more holistic and comprehensive approach to financing education is what is required to achieve the best fit of education to national development.

The basic question is : who pays for the tertiary education our children receive ?

A few principles will guide the answer to this basic question :

1) Whoever will enjoy the benefits of the tertiary education the child receives should pay for it . Cost benefit analysis will help to address this question in respect of the proportion of financial support for the child’s education borne by the beneficiaries .

2) Financing Education at the tertiary level is a collective responsibility

Now, for student’s financing support , the individual, the parents , private sector , and government all should be involved in financing tertiary education .

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3) Students’ financial assistance can take the form of incentives to direct choice of career by government at all levels .

It is therefore important to differentiate the students in terms of educational financing by way of financial support . Beyond funds to meet tuition fees, poor students would have no access to tertiary education if they don’t have Accomodation , feeding , learning materials and books , and money for upkeep . It is not a simple matter if tertiary education institutions in Nigeria are not rationalized to bring into sharper focus the purpose of this level of education for a developing country as Nigeria.

1) Indigent students

2) Talented students

3) Students pursuing courses in the less preferred areas from the perspective of national development

4) Students pursuing courses in dire need for national development

5) Students pursuing courses in line with their personal and parental career aspirations

6) Students pursuing courses in private tertiary institutions.

Data base generated at the secondary school level may be required to achieve this kind of differentiation. A decentralized mode , community by community , is required to achieve this in the country .

Who desire loans or grants in the alternative ?

Indigent Students who are pursuing courses to meet the manpower requirements for specific industries in the private sector with the private sector providing the guarantees for such loans .

Indigents students pursuing courses to meet skills gaps in sectors for the accelerated national development will need grants and scholarships, and maybe loans guaranteed by the government.

An educational bank was an arrangement put together at a time to ensure ready supply of funds to meet that purpose .

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Talented students including indigent students as well as from well to do economic background can have access to scholarships , grants and loans to support their education .

Those students in private tertiary educational institutions regardless of the courses and their choice of career will source funds from their parents and those who are interested in doing so .

Tertiary Education should be planned and not left to the whims and caprices of individual choice. And this has implications for financing tertiary education and by extension the kind of financial support you give to the students : scholarships, grants, loans , etc .