Challenges Faced by Tertiary Students in Applying for Student Loan Portal

A surge of frustration has gripped some tertiary institution students as they struggled to navigate and register on the newly launched student loan portal.

LEADERSHIP gathered that the student loan portal is now open for applications from students across 126 tertiary institutions, covering Federal universities, Federal Polytechnics, and Federal Colleges of Education.

To apply, students need to visit the official student loan portal, nelf.gov.ng, fill out the necessary forms, and submit required documentation.

However, the mounting issues hindering smooth applications were prompting calls for immediate improvements to the portal to ensure that students can secure the financial support they needed for their education.

It would be recalled that the first phase of the student loan scheme has gone live in the early hours of Friday, with the first prospective beneficiaries being students from federal institutions across the country.

LEADERSHIP reports that the website of the loan is now active, but some students have complained about their inability to log onto it and proceed with their application process.

In an interview with our correspondent, a student of Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, who identified himself as Cletus said his JAMB registration number was ‘not recognized’ while attempting to register.

‘It’s not working. I got to where I clicked ‘create’. The image or whatever is not showing. So it’s preventing me. In fact, they really need to work on the website,’ he added.

Meanwhile, some Direct Entry (DE) and National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) students have complained that they can’t proceed with the registration as the portal required them to provide their JAMB registration numbers.

A student of NOUN, Ms. Gloria, said she opened the portal but didn’t know what to do next when she was asked to provide a JAMB registration number.

‘National Open University doesn’t use JAMB, so I urge NELFUND to use our admission numbers instead of our JAMB numbers,’ she pleaded.