Zambia: HELSB Fail to Award Loans to 8 000 Eligible First Year Students at UNZA due to Financial Constraints

The Higher Education Loans and Scholarships Board (HELSB) has said that it has failed to award Loans to 8 004 eligible first-year students at the University of Zambia (UNZA) for the 2021/2022 academic year due to budgetary constraints.

In a statement released to the media, HELSB said, however, that it has only awarded student loans to 2,481 eligible first-year students at the University of Zambia for the 2021/2022 academic year, who had scored 5 and 6 points, bringing the total of students currently being supported at UNZA 8,539 students.

HELSB further said that they had received an overwhelming response of 10,682 applications, of which, 6,150 are males while 4,532 are female representing 58% and 42%, respectively.

Of the total number received, 10,485 applicants are eligible for the award of student loans while 197 are ineligible, representing 98% and 2%, respectively.

The ineligible applicants are as a result of completing Grade 12 before 2017, non-attachment of required documents to the student loan application, having been already awarded students loans at other Universities and being non-Zambians.

“Due to budgetary constraints, HELSB is unable to award student loans to all eligible applicants for the 2021/2022 academic year, ” the statement said.

1,340 of the total awarded applicants are male while 1,141 are female representing 54% and 46%, respectively. Further, 1,040 students awarded are from rural districts while 1,441 are from urban districts representing 42% and 58%, respectively.

All the Thirty-Nine (39) applicants living with disabilities have been awarded student loans representing 1.6% of the total awarded applicants.

“In view of the Covid-19 4th wave, HELSB requests that all queries from unsuccessful applicants be sent to [email protected] and a response will be given in the shortest possible time, ” the statement concluded.

Source: Lusakatimes