Gov’t allocates ¢452m to pay ‘free’ fees for 1st-yr tertiary students

The central government has allocated about GH¢452,940,012.00 to settle academic facility user fees for 156,294 first-year tertiary students for the 2025 academic year, President John Dramani Mahama has disclosed.

During his 120-Day National Address, he announced that the government will cover academic facility user fees for only first-year students enrolled in public tertiary institutions in the country for this academic year, for GH¢452.9 million.

Delivering a televised national address on Wednesday, May 7, to mark his first 120 days in office, President Mahama said the initiative was part of his administration’s commitment to easing the financial burden on families and expanding access to higher education.

“The ‘no academic fee policy’ for all first-year students in public tertiary institutions was a key promise to ease the burden on families and expand access to higher education. My government has taken concrete steps to implement this,” he said.

President Mahama said the government has directed the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) to disburse the funds directly to public tertiary institutions to ensure the timely payment of the academic facility user fees.

His Excellency John Dramani Mahama added that a digital application platform, the ‘No Fee Stress’ portal, is now live for first-year students to register and authenticate their eligibility for the scheme.

As a total of 156,294 students are expected to benefit from the intervention, he said the government’s education policies are focused on reducing inequality and ensuring continuity from secondary to tertiary education for all qualified students.

In other news, an amount of GH¢3.5 billion has been allocated to fund the free Senior High School (Free SHS) education programme for this academic year, the Minister of Finance, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, has announced.

Presenting the 2025 Budget Statement and Economic Policy in Parliament on Tuesday, March 11, 2024, he said the government has uncapped the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) to allocate enough money to fund the free secondary education programme.

The Finance Minister further disclosed that the central government, aside from uncapping GETFund, has significantly increased funding for key educational initiatives aimed at improving access to quality education and easing financial burdens on students.

“Mr Speaker, the overarching concern about free secondary education has been its quality and the absence of a dedicated source of funding. H.E. President John Mahama has resolved the funding challenge by uncapping the GETFund. This makes available dedicated funds for the full financing of free secondary education and free tertiary education for Persons with Disability (PWDS)

By removing the cap on GETFund, the government will provide an additional GH¢4.1 billion for financing free secondary education and other educational expenditures. Dr Forson further disclosed that the Daakye bond debt service, which includes interest and principal contracted by the GETFund, will now be absorbed by the government to free up resources for education.

As part of efforts to enhance tertiary education access, the government has introduced the “No-Academic-Fee” policy, which will cover all first-year students in public tertiary institutions. A total of GH¢499.8 million has been allocated under the ‘No-Fees-Stress’ initiative, which aims to remove financial barriers for students and their families.

To further improve the quality of basic education, the government has committed GH¢564.6 million for the comprehensive provision of free curriculum-based textbooks. This includes four sets of KG books and workbooks for 2.8 million learners, four sets of primary textbooks for 800,000 learners, and nine sets of JHS 3 textbooks for 540,000 learners.

Under the School Feeding Programme, the budgetary provision has been increased from GH¢1.344 billion in 2024 to GH¢1.788 billion in 2025, reflecting a 33 per cent increase. As part of this, the feeding cost per meal per child per day will rise from GH¢1.50 to GH¢2.00.

Additionally, the government has boosted funding for the Capitation Grant, increasing the allocation from GH¢84 million in 2024 to GH¢145.5 million in 2025, marking a 73.2 per cent increase,” the Finance Minister told Parliament.