The President, John Dramani Mahama, has announced that the government will cover academic facility user fees for more than 156,000 first-year students enrolled in public tertiary institutions for the 2025 academic year, at a cost of 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.

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.

The President 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.

A total of 156,294 students are expected to benefit from the intervention.

The announcement follows an extensive national consultation on education reform, which President Mahama said had already fulfilled another key campaign pledge. Over 2,000 proposals were received during the process, including input from a survey involving 20,000 respondents on Ghana’s free senior high school policy.

The final report is expected to be published by the end of May 2025.

President Mahama said the government’s education policies are focused on reducing inequality and ensuring continuity from secondary to tertiary education for all qualified students.