Parents who want to foot the bill for wards who are first-year students at the tertiary level can still do so, despite President John Mahama’s proposed free tertiary education policy covering first-year tertiary students, Minister-designate for Education Haruna Iddrisu has explained.

He spoke during his vetting by Parliament’s Appointments Committee on Monday, January 20, 2025.

“The beauty of this is that parents who are willing to pay can do so under this policy that has been introduced by the NDC,” he said, noting the flexibility of the policy.

He, also, revealed, “The country will require about ₵345 million for the population of students who enter tertiary institutions; that is what the state will be required to do.”

He noted the policy aimed to make higher education more accessible to all.

Government will provide the needed funds directly to “affected universities,” to cover tuition fees for first-year students, he explained.

In fact, for the sake of fairness, “we intend to provide that money to the affected universities, at least, to make refunds to those who have already paid fees,” he added.