Over 50 Ghanaian students on government scholarships in the UK are stranded due to unpaid tuition fees. David Farman, their spokesperson, highlighted that uncertainty has persisted since October 2024. A meeting with the Ghana Scholarships Secretariat yielded no results, leading students to crowdsource funds. Deadline for payment set by the university is June 1, 2025.
More than 50 Ghanaian students who are on government scholarships in the United Kingdom are facing serious challenges as unpaid tuition fees have left them stranded. David Farman, who serves as their spokesperson, has raised urgent concerns regarding this situation, which started back in October 2024 when students received communication from their universities about outstanding fees under the sponsorship of the Ghana Scholarships Secretariat.
Farman, in an interview with Joy News, expressed that ever since last October, the uncertainty surrounding tuition payments has grown. “Since last year, October, we received emails from the university concerning the payment of fees. Unfortunately, the issue has not been resolved to date,” he explained.
In April 2025, a meeting occurred between university administrators and the Registrar of the Ghana Scholarships Secretariat. However, the hopes raised from that meeting quickly waned when the university communicated shortly thereafter that no firm resolution had come from the discussions.
“Following the engagement, we realized that the Secretariat had offered to pay 10% of the total debt, but the university rejected that offer,” Farman clarified. He stated that due to this, the remaining 90% of owed fees will now fall upon the students themselves.
The university has also instituted a policy categorizing how students can graduate based on their debt. Those without any debt can graduate and receive their diplomas, while students with debts less than £500 can graduate but will not receive their certifications.
The scholarship, as understood by students, was supposed to cover full tuition fees and provide a monthly stipend of approximately £10. Unfortunately, since many students arrived in the UK—some as early as September 2023 and others in January 2024—they have yet to receive any financial support.
“We were expecting to have our fees and stipends sorted by now. This GSS scholarship was meant to cover everything, but since our arrivals, none of that has been addressed,” Farman commented further.
Amidst these growing frustrations, the students, led by their executives, even reached out to the Audit Service to escalate their grievances. While they feel some appreciation for the current Registrar’s attempts to engage the university, sentiments reveal that those efforts fell short in producing satisfactory outcomes so far.
With the fertilization of hopes torn away, the students are now turning to crowdfunding as a last resort to avoid expulsion or being barred from graduating. “We are aiming to raise over £400,000 in total support. If each student receives about £9,000 in public assistance, we could significantly alleviate the burden. Thus far, we have been unable to gather anything, as our GoFundMe account was only activated after our engagement with the university this week,” Farman shared.
Farman appealed to compassionate Ghanaians, businesses, and philanthropists to step forward and assist as the university has set a hard deadline of June 1, 2025, to clear all outstanding payments, failing which students may face serious sanctions.
In summary, more than 50 Ghanaian students in the UK are caught in a precarious situation due to unpaid tuition fees by their government. Their hopes for resolution dimmed after a meeting that yielded no concrete outcomes. With financial support from the Ghana Scholarships Secretariat withheld, they are now seeking public donations to avoid severe academic consequences, including potential expulsion.
Original Source: www.ghanaweb.com
