Over 6,000 CBU Students Cry Foul Over Student Loan Rejection
Written by Mafken FM Newsroom on 21 October 2024
By Respite Kaoma
Over 6,000 Copperbelt University of Zambia-CBU-students in Kitwe district have been left out in the awarding of students loans.
Among those left out are the first and second year students, who completed their secondary education in 2021, 2022 and 2023 with acceptance letters from the University for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Speaking in an interview with Mafken news, the students have appealed to the Higher Education Loans and Scholarship Board to consider including them on the second list.
They further stated that, their guardians currently are financially incapacitated in that they cannot afford paying for their tuition fees due to the current harsh economy.
And Copperbelt University Student Union-COBUSU-Former Minister of Information and External Relations Mpemba Mubanga has pleaded with the Higher Education Loans and Scholarships Board to consider awarding students loans to those qualified students who were left out in the process.
Meanwhile, Copperbelt Socialist Party Chairperson Brian Chirambo has attributed the inadequacies in the higher education sector to what he described as failure on the part of the UPND Adminstration.
Recently, the Higher Education Loan and Scholarship Board announced that, it has awarded students loans to 3,537 first year students at CBU for the 2024/2025 academic year, from the total 10,623 application submitted for sponsorship, with 9,927 applicants meeting the eligibility criteria representing 93%.
