The University of Cape Coast (UCC) is considering a policy that will allow the university to employ needy, promising students of the institution on a part-time basis to help them earn some money to ease their financial burdens.
With this work-study programme, students will be given the opportunity to work at the library, halls of residence and the Students Financial Support Office (SFSO).
In furtherance of this objective, the university last Tuesday inaugurated the SFSO and a management committee to set the process rolling.
An 11-member committee will manage the office, and funding will be from the university, student bodies on campus and other interested organisations.
The occasion was also used to launch students’ scholarships for the 2020/2021 academic year.
Easing burden
The Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the UCC and Chairperson of the SFS Committee, Prof. Dora Francisca Edu-Buandoh, in an address, said the motivation for setting up the support office was to help ease the financial burden of promising students and give them some hope and peace of mind to undertake their studies.
She said management was aware that there were many students who could excel if they had some form of financial support.
“I know that many lecturers support students individually. There are many students in need and who go to individual lecturers for support. It is good; it is moral for us to do that, but there is also the need for the institution itself to set up some fund to support these students, as it is done by other institutions elsewhere,” she said.
She said the decision was taken last year after management had realised that there was a critical need for the university to put away some money to cushion its brilliant, promising students who were constrained financially.
Students support office
The SFSO will be a one-stop office that will cater for the financial needs of students and also link up with corporate institutions while facilitating scholarships for needy students.
Prof. Edu-Buandoh said the office had also begun collaborating with the Scholarship Secretariat to reach eligible students easily.
The office, she further indicated, would work to identify areas where students could be employed on a part-time basis to help provide some income for them.
She urged all colleges to support the office to achieve its mandate.
The Administrator at the SFSO, Mr Alfred Ghartey, noted that the office was essential and would help give opportunity to many students to excel.
He called for support for the office to enable it to achieve its objective.
-Graphic.com.gh
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