The University of Memphis has confirmed that a $1 million payment from the Ghanaian government has temporarily secured the stay of nearly 200 Ghanaian students on its campus, preventing possible eviction and deportation. The payment, however, only partially covers the $3.6 million debt accumulated under the Ghana Scholarship Secretariat (GSS) programme, leaving an outstanding balance of $2.2 million.
Speaking at a press conference in Accra, GSS Registrar Alex Kwaku Asafo-Agyei assured that Ghanaian students would not face deportation, adding that $400,000 had already been paid. He attributed the delays to an ongoing audit and explained that the transfers were being processed through the Controller and Accountant General Department and the Bank of Ghana.
The University of Memphis had previously warned that without full settlement, students risked losing scholarships, accommodation and legal residency by August 9, 2025. University President Dr. Bill Hardgrave linked the payment delays to Ghana’s political transition following the December 2024 elections but expressed optimism about resolving the situation. Most of the affected Ghanaian students are enrolled in Science, Engineering and Business programmes. Meanwhile, the university has opened a fund to solicit donations to provide emergency support for the stranded students.
The near-crisis at the University of Memphis, where almost 200 Ghanaian students risked eviction and deportation, should force us to reflect on the sustainability and efficiency of our foreign scholarship policy. While government intervention averted immediate disaster, the fact that $3.6 million in arrears could accumulate reveals deep structural flaws.
Across the world, many international students fund their own education through savings, loans or part-time work, while governments prioritise scholarships for only the most critical and specialized fields unavailable locally. In Ghana, however, we continue to spend millions of dollars annually sponsoring students abroad, even for programmes that are fully available in our own universities. This raises uncomfortable but necessary questions: Why should scarce public resources fund foreign tuition in disciplines such as Science, Engineering and Business programme, when reputable local alternatives exist?
Beyond cost, there is the troubling issue of return on investment. Too often, beneficiaries of such scholarships do not return home, depriving the nation of the very skills our taxes financed. Ghana ends up subsidising the economies of wealthier nations while struggling to meet pressing domestic needs – such as equipping our own universities, improving healthcare and addressing youth unemployment.
This is not to say international scholarships should be scrapped altogether. They remain vital for areas where local capacity is limited specialised medicine, advanced engineering or emerging technologies. But they should be tightly targeted, transparently managed and tied to agreements ensuring students return to contribute to national development.
The Ghana Scholarship Secretariat should prioritise local tertiary education by encouraging students to pursue studies within Ghana and reducing the number of foreign scholarships. The University of Memphis episode is a wake-up call. Ghana must reform its scholarship policies to prioritise sustainability and accountability. Investing more in strengthening local institutions, while strategically sending only a limited number abroad would save millions, reduce recurring debt embarrassments and ensure real value for the nation. The time has come to rethink our approach because education abroad should be an investment, not a liability.
