The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has told tertiary institutions that no student can be forced to take a student loan. The Fund said on Wednesday that borrowing under the scheme is a personal decision for students who genuinely need financial help. It warned schools and student leaders against giving students the impression that applying for the loan is a condition for studying.
“The objective is not to encourage every student to borrow, but to ensure that every eligible Nigerian student who genuinely needs financial assistance has the opportunity to access it,” the Fund said in a statement signed by its Director of Strategic Communications, Oseyemi Oluwatuyi. NELFUND added that making the loan compulsory for students who do not need it would defeat the purpose of the programme. Students who can pay their own fees, it said, are free to study without applying.
The statement did not name any institution, but it came a day after an internal memo from the Enugu State College of Education (Technical), Enugu, became public. The memo, dated October 6, 2026, and signed by the Acting Registrar, Patrick Aneke, declared it “now compulsory” for every NCE and degree student to enrol for the loan. It directed all fresh and continuing students to apply through the college’s NELFUND desk officer for the 2026/2027 session.
Messages from a college WhatsApp group, attributed to the Dean of Students’ Affairs, Dr Bertrand Ekwe, indicated that students without proof of NELFUND registration would not be cleared for examinations. Some students in the group alleged that fees displayed on their NELFUND dashboards were higher than the regular school fees. That allegation has not been independently verified, and the college has not publicly addressed it.
The dispute touches a scheme that has grown quickly since its portal opened in May 2024. In August 2025, NELFUND Managing Director Akintunde Sawyerr said the Fund had disbursed ₦85 billion to 449,000 students in 218 institutions. By January 2026, he put the figure at ₦161.97 billion for 864,798 students across 263 institutions.
The Fund’s dashboard showed that by September 3, 2026, it had processed 1,659,853 applications and disbursed ₦355.87 billion across 319 institutions. Of that sum, ₦192.89 billion went directly to schools as institutional fees, while ₦162.98 billion was paid to students as upkeep allowances. Total disbursement has therefore more than quadrupled in about 13 months, and risen by about 120 per cent since January alone.
How the money moves explains why the voluntary question matters. Under the scheme, tuition and other charges are paid straight into the accounts of institutions, while upkeep goes to the student. NELFUND has previously praised schools that protect students waiting on the loan. In March, Sawyerr commended Delta State University, Abraka, for allowing students whose status read “Verified” or “Disbursed” to sit their first semester examinations.
The scheme has also changed shape since it was first conceived. The original Students Loans (Access to Higher Education) Act, signed in June 2023, limited the loan to students whose family income was below ₦500,000 a year and required two guarantors. President Bola Tinubu repealed and re-enacted the law on April 3, 2024, scrapping the income cap and broadening access to qualified Nigerians in public institutions.
Wider access, however, has not removed the obligation to pay back. The loan carries no interest, but repayment begins two years after a beneficiary completes the National Youth Service Corps programme. Employers are required to deduct 10 per cent of the graduate’s monthly salary and remit it to the Fund, while self-employed beneficiaries are expected to pay the same share themselves.
Sawyerr has said graduates who remain unemployed after NYSC are not obliged to repay until they earn an income. NELFUND has also said it can pursue employers who fail to remit deductions. In its latest statement, the Fund urged students to study the terms of the loan carefully before applying.
The clarification comes as applications for the 2026/2027 session are under way in institutions across the country. NELFUND has called on schools, student union leaders and other stakeholders to give students accurate information about the programme. It said its priority remained ensuring that lack of money does not force qualified Nigerians out of school, without pushing anyone into debt they do not need.