The Ghanaian Government Is Paying First-Year Tertiary Students 288 Dollars
On July 21, 2025, an X user @AfricaFirsts made a claim that the government of Ghana is now paying $288 to each first-year tertiary student. The post had an image showing the Nelson Mandela Hall at the University of Professional Studies, Accra in Ghana, captioned, ‘Ghana 🇬🇭now pays tertiary students $288 in their first year.’
When this report was published, the claim had attracted over 239,000 views and about 7,200 replies, reposts, quotes, likes, and bookmarks. In the comment section, SamueAgye98366 wrote “Sorry ooo Do another Ghana or the same Ghana I dey”? And @Shellova233 said “That’s not true , their first year fees has been paid for and they got a refund . Government is not paying anyone”.
VERIFICATION
On July 4, 2025, Ghana’s President John Mahama inaugurated the “No Fees, No Stress” policy. It provides full coverage of admission and tuition fees for 15,000 first-year students in public tertiary institutions, covering universities, technical institutions, nursing colleges, and colleges of education. The scheme is aimed at removing financial barriers that prevent qualified students from enrolling in tertiary institutions.
Upon launching this initiative over 130,000 students had registered for the program, with more than 100,000 completing their applications. However, approximately 15,000 first-year tertiary students received government-paid fee support through the initiative.
According to President Mahama 15,000 first-year students received notifications confirming their admission fees had been paid by the state. This clearly indicates a direct fee payment to universities and tertiary institutions, not cash to students.
CONCLUSION
The claim that the Ghanaian government is giving 288 Dollars directly to first-year tertiary students is MISLEADING. The actual initiative provides fee coverage paid directly to institutions, not cash benefits. As of July 2025, the policy benefits only 15,000 students and there is no direct cash transfer to students.
