Lofa County University Withholds Grades Over Unpaid Scholarship Debts

Published: September 10, 2026

VOINJAMA, Lofa County – Students at Lofa County University will be denied their grade sheets and blocked from registering for the coming semester if their tuition is unpaid, a penalty that falls on students whose scholarship sponsors, not the students themselves, are in default.

The university said in a statement Wednesday that scholarship donors and sponsoring organizations owe it more than L$10 million and that the unpaid tuition has left it unable to meet running costs.

“This ongoing default has significantly impeded our ability to manage daily operations, maintain academic facilities, and pay key operational expenses,” the statement said.

Students with outstanding balances, including those covered by scholarships whose sponsors have not paid, “will temporarily be unable to access their official academic grade sheets,” the statement said, and clearance for the upcoming semester “will strictly depend on the settlement of these accounts.”

The administration said the sponsors have “consistently failed to settle their outstanding financial obligations,” and it urged them to “immediately settle their accumulated debts,” saying it was never its intention to deprive deserving students of an education.

The university said it is facing a “dire financial situation” as enrollment rises, and it credited the government, through the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, and the Lofa County Legislative Caucus for budgetary support. It said that as a public, nonprofit institution it still requires sustainable financing and “cannot compromise on academic excellence, faculty retention, or student safety.”

The statement did not identify any of the sponsors it accuses of defaulting, did not say how many students are affected or how many are on scholarship, and did not set a deadline by which accounts must be cleared or say when the restrictions take effect.