The Nigerian Education Loan Fund has announced the closure of its application portal for the 2024/2025 academic session, effective from Tuesday.
According to the Fund, the move signals the completion of its second full cycle and will allow it to finalise the processing of pending applications and upkeep payments.
In a statement signed on Monday by its Director of Strategic Communications, Oseyemi Oluwatuyi, NELFUND also released timelines for the next round of applications.
The portal will reopen in the second week of October 2025 for the 2025/2026 academic session and remain accessible until January 2026.
The Fund urged institutions to promptly update their students’ records on the Student Verification System to enable eligible applicants to participate in the new cycle. Institutions yet to commence a new academic session within the stated window were asked to notify NELFUND for possible concessions.
“All applications for the 2024/2025 academic session that remain unverified by institutions after October 8, 2025, will be automatically cancelled.
Students in this category are strongly encouraged to prompt their school management to complete the verification process before the deadline. Affected students will have to submit fresh applications for the 2025/2026 academic year,” the statement read.
NELFUND further disclosed that some students’ applications remained unapproved or unpaid due to institutions’ failure to complete the mandatory verification process.
“NELFUND is actively engaging with such institutions to resolve the delays. However, institutions that fail to comply by the stipulated deadline should note that the Fund will publish the names of all non-compliant institutions for transparency,” it added.
On upkeep allowances, NELFUND clarified that disbursements for the 2024/2025 session would continue until November 2025, but students must reapply for the 2025/2026 session to maintain eligibility.
So far, more than 510,000 students have benefited from the Federal Government’s Student Loan Initiative, with a total of N99.5bn disbursed since the scheme’s launch on May 24, 2024.
According to the Student Loan Disbursement Daily Status Report released on September 27, 2025, NELFUND has received 835,360 applications since inception, out of which 510,378 students have successfully accessed the interest-free facility.
Credit: punchng.com
