If you are a student in Nigeria who wants to pursue higher education, you may be wondering how to finance your studies. Education can be expensive, especially if you want to attend a reputable institution or study outside the country.
Fortunately, there are some options for getting a student loan in Nigeria that can help you pay for your tuition and other expenses. We will provide a list of Nigerian banks that offer student loans, along with their relevant links, requirements, and conditions. We will also discuss the Student Loan Act, a new legislation that aims to provide interest-free education loans to Nigerian students.
All the commercial banks mentioned in this post are fully licensed by the CBN (Central Bank of Nigeria) and are fully insured by the NDIC (Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation) in Nigeria.
List of Nigerian Banks Offering Student Loans
Access Bank Student Loan
Access Bank is one of the leading banks in Nigeria that offers student loans. The Access Bank student loan is designed to provide short-term financing solutions to parents/guardians for their children/wards in Nigeria to help cover their educational costs such as tuition and related expenses. This loan option helps to manage finances better and ease the burden of high educational expenses by offering an opportunity to pay school fees conveniently over a flexible repayment period. It is an ideal loan for financing undergraduate study, postgraduate study, and professional examinations. The loan can go up to ₦5 million with no option to refinance.
To apply for an Access Bank student loan, you need to meet the following requirements:
There are two major categories for requirements for applicants:
Salaried Customers
• Duly completed application form
• Duly accepted offer letter
• School fees bill/invoice in the name of the student. The bill should contain the total fee amount
• Valid ID card and recent utility bill (within the last 3 months)
Non-Salaried Customers
• Duly completed application form
• Valid ID card
• 1-year Bank statement of a corporate account
• CAC documents
• Recent Utility Bill (within the last 3 months).
• Duly accepted offer letter.
• School fees bill/invoice in the name of the student. The bill should contain the total fee.
• Evidence of lien on treasury bill, fixed deposit on any money market investments. OR
• Receipt of acceptable guarantee (individual or corporate) and
• Statement of Net worth of guarantor.
For more information and to apply online (Access Bank website), click HERE.
GT Bank Student Loan
GT Bank student loan helps parents/guardians in Nigeria fund their children's/wards' education. This loan is only available for schools in Nigeria. Up to ₦5 million loans can be accessed with a maximum tenure of 4 months.
To apply for a GT Bank student loan, you need to meet the following requirements:
• Minimum monthly salary of N25,000 for public sector employees and N50,000 for private sector employees.
• Parents must submit an employer’s undertaking letter to access the loan, confirming their employment and willingness to repay.
• The loan limit is ₦5 million, and the maximum tenure is 4 months.
• Other required documents include proof of income and identification.
For more information and to apply online (GT Bank website), click HERE.
First Bank Student Loan
First Bank offers a school-financing loan instead of a student loan mainly to private schools under the FirstEdu Loan scheme. The loan is designed to provide flexible funding for upgrading school facilities and also grants parents loans to pay their children’s school fees.
To apply for a First Bank FirstEdu Loan scheme, you need to meet the following requirements:
• Evidence of Government Approval of the school.
• School Memorandum and Articles of Association (MEMART) where applicable.
• Documents showing how long the school has been in the business.
• Documents showing the number of students in the school.
• Any other documents that may be required by the bank.
Some of its features include:
• Available to all private schools duly registered with CAC (either Government-approved or not).
• Tenor is from 90 days to 12 months (terms and conditions apply).
• Maximum Loan amount is N20m.
• Schools with CAC registration but without Ministry of Education approval can access up to N2 million for 90 days.
• Finance of operational vehicles for schools (new and fairly used)
• Asset acquisition of up to N20m for 24 months.
• Collateral is an undertaking to domicile school fees with FirstBank.
• The school must have been in an account relationship with any bank for a minimum of 12 months.
• The school must have a minimum student population of 100.
• The school must have a satisfactory credit report from a recognized credit bureau.
For more information and to apply online (First Bank website), click HERE.
Education Bank Loan
The Education Bank Loan is a federal government initiative that provides interest-free loans to Nigerian students pursuing tertiary education. The loan is administered by the Education Loan Fund, which is financed through various sources such as taxes, levies, donations, grants, and endowments. The loan repayment starts two years after the completion of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) program. The loan is also disbursed through the Nigerian banks.
To apply for an Education Bank Loan, you need to meet the following requirements:
You must be a Nigerian citizen
You must have gained admission into an accredited tertiary institution in Nigeria or abroad
You must have a guarantor who is either a civil servant or a reputable member of society
You must have a valid means of identification
You can visit the Education Loan Fund information HERE
First City Monument Bank Student Loan
First City Monument Bank (FCMB) offers a student loan under the Back To School scheme. The loan is designed to help parents pay their children's school fees conveniently without stress. The loan can be used for tuition fees, books, uniforms, and other school-related expenses.
To apply for an FCMB student loan, you need to meet the following requirements:
You must be an existing customer of FCMB with a salary account or savings account
You must have a verifiable source of income
You must provide proof of admission and school fees invoice
You must have a valid means of identification
For more information and to apply online (FCMB website), click HERE.
Union Bank Student Loan
Union Bank‘s Back-to-school-finance is available to parents/guardians as the bank’s student loan. It can cover tuition fees and is readily available for customers who have maintained a salary domiciliary account for at least a month with the bank.
To apply for a Union Bank student loan, you need to meet the following requirements:
• Salary domiciliation – 1 month
• Tenor –
(a) 3 months for termly fee payment
(b) 12 months for session fee payment
• Maximum loan amount – N15 million
For more information and to apply online (Union Bank website), click HERE.
Zenith Bank Student Loan
The Education Loan is provided by Zenith Bank to its customers to provide short-term funding to enable parents or guardians to pay tuition fees for their children/wards. The Education loan has a minimum facility amount of N 100,000 and a maximum facility amount of N 5,000,000.
To apply for the Zenith Bank Student Loan, you need to meet the following requirements:
• Completed Application Form
• A parent or guardian must have a salary account domiciled with the bank.
• The child or ward must have an account with the bank.
• Invoice of school or tuition fees
For more information and to apply online (Zenith Bank website), click HERE.
Fidelity Bank Student Loan
Fidelity bank provides 4 different packages termed Back2School for parents or guardians to finance their children or wards' school expenses. The Back2School makes it easier to meet student-related financial challenges when the need arises for parents or guardians.
The Fidelity Bank Student Loan (financing) under Back2School offerings is in four categories:
• FAST LOAN
• SWEETA
• CREDIT CARD
• EDULOAN
For more information on requirements and to apply online (Fidelity Bank website), click HERE.
Wema Bank Student Loan
Wema Bank assists parents or guardians with a School Fees Advance loan, which is a loan facility designed to finance the payment of your child's or ward’s school fees for schools or institutions in Nigeria and the diaspora. This facility is available to salaried individuals and self-employed individuals. The School Fees Advance loan has a minimum facility amount of N 50,000 and a maximum facility amount of N 10,000,000.
To apply for the Wema Bank Student Loan, you need to meet the following requirements:
• Completed School Fees Advance application form
• Letter of introduction: This is to determine the employment status of the parent/guardian
• Irrevocable letter of domiciliation from the employer: This is to ensure that the parent/guardian's salary will remain with Wema Bank until the advance is liquidated
• Invoice of School/tuition fees
• Proof of identity (Driver’s license, National ID, International Passport, or Voters card) Employment ID is not sufficient
• Proof of address i.e. utility bill
• Last three month’s payslip
• Six months’ salary statement of account (for customers whose salary accounts cannot be or are not domiciled with Wema Bank)
• Admission letter from the school if the school is in the diaspora
For more information and to apply online (Wema Bank website), click HERE.
Titan Trust Bank Student Loan
Titan Trust Bank gives a loan facility to provide parents/guardians with short-term financing to cover tuition fees. The student loan from the bank is called TITAN Fee Advance. The loan ensures that the child's or ward’s education is not interrupted due to unforeseen circumstances. It has a maximum facility amount of N 5,000,000.
To apply for the Titan Trust Bank Student Loan, you need to meet the following requirements:
• Completed Application Form.
• Admission Letter.
• Tuition Advice / Invoice.
• Letter of domiciliation of salary account with Titan Trust Bank.
• Copy of Employment ID and valid means of identification.
• BVN.
• Credit checks.
For more information and to apply online (Titan Trust Bank website), click HERE.
However, some other commercial banks also provide student loans in a variety of loan facilities but not specifically fashioned only for a student loan. This means that they have some facilities that can function for parents or guardians that want to cater for their children or wards’ school expenses. You will need to visit these under-listed commercial banks to really discover their suitable facilities that can cover your needs for your children or wards' school fees and other academic expenses. We advise you visit their quoted websites links or their nearest branches to you:
Unity Bank – HERE
Standard Chartered Bank – HERE
CitiBank Nigeria – HERE
EcoBank Nigeria – HERE
UBA Bank – HERE
KeyStone Bank – HERE
Providus Bank – HERE
Sterling Bank – HERE
Heritage Bank – HERE
Sun Trust Bank – HERE
Globus Bank – HERE
Optimus Bank – HERE
Parallex Bank – HERE
Polaris Bank – HERE
Signature Bank – HERE
We also advise you to frequently visit these banks’ websites for any up-to-date information or you contact them at their branches.
We wish you a best of luck in pursuit of your academic ambitions.
.png)
1 Comments
Nigerian banks still need to do better than these for education
ReplyDelete