Education

How to fund your ward’s 2023 university admission

A University of Ghana PhD hiring advertisement examined

As a parent or guardian, have you thought of how to fund your ward’s 2023 university admission after the release of the WASSCE results, or you are waiting for the Free SHS graduate to gain admission before you start working toward looking for money to pay the tuition fee.

The Free SHS policy relieved parents from their education financing at the secondary school level since the government rolled out the policy. However, the government will not pay the fees of Free SHS graduates who gain admission into the tertiary institutions come January 2023 when these students enter tertiary level education. It is no doubt that 2023 University Admission funding will be tough for many parents and guardians given the current heart wrecking economic situation in the country.

The responsibility and burden will shift to parents hence, they need to be proactive by planning ahead, and saving scarce funds to meet the financial demands of tertiary education if they want their wards to smoothly progress into the universities, colleges of education, and nursing training colleges should they pass the WASSCE 2022.

Assuming only 50% of Free SHS students pass the WASSCE 2022 and the NOV-DEC students join them to apply for tertiary admissions. That will be close to 400,000 applications or more.

With the limited admission opportunities in both public and private universities, one’s inability to pay approved fees on time could make one lose his or her admission slot to another student on the waiting list.

The tendency for parents to lose sight of the fact that they will now have to fund their ward’s education may be daunting. A minimum savings of Ghs500 and a maximum of ghs1500 a month from November is required to get some funds aside for paying university tuition fees. Parents will be needed not less than, Ghs6000 to finance the basic payments for tertiary education such as tuition and lodging.

Read: UNIVERSITY OF GHANA 2020/2021 Entry Requirements – Ghana WASSCE/SSSCE

Raising such an amount has not been an easy huddle for many parents and guardians in the past, however, taking a proactive step towards tertiary education financing for Free SHS graduates ahead of their WASSCE 2022 examination is the sure way to ensure a smooth progression from pre-tertiary education to tertiary.

Some brilliant students and many more who passed the WASSCE in the past have had to stay home for many more years due to the lack of funding for their tertiary education. For some, churches, individual philanthropists, scholarship-awarding NGOs, and secretariats had to come to the rescue of such students and dreams.

READ: Don’t Blame Free SHS If WASSCE 2020 Students Fail

Parents cannot and should not always rely on such opportunities to fund the 2023 University Admission Fees of their wards, but take their ward’s destiny into their own hands, and start planning toward the payment of the fees right after the year-end festivities.

This write-up is an early signal for parents and guardians to start thinking and taking financing decisions, as well as putting in place strategies to raise enough money for their university education.

READ: Napo must apologize for Embarrassing DIPLOMA TEACHERS – Hon. Jerry Akporhor

Parents could open special savings accounts from now and save funds in them for tertiary education funding.

For those who have education-related investments and insurance policies, this will be the time to start finding out from your insurer or investment managers of such funds, how much you can raise from such policies in the next three months to fund your ward’s education. If you have any outstanding payments to make, get the needed funds and pay off the arrears by the end of November so that you are not denied the needed funds from the insurance to pay for your ward’s university education.

Knowing this off-hand will help you take precautionary and proactive decisions on what to do to raise the difference.