The Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) has responded to reports that hackers gained access to students’ funds.
This is after a post surfaced online noting that around 5,000 HELB batches had been hacked.
However, HELB dismissed the reports explaining that it was a fake news alert.
“Disregard this false HELB message claiming a hack on batch numbers!” said the loans board.
HELB assured the students that their funds were safe, and they shouldn’t bother consulting Huduma Centers.
“Your funds are safe. No need to rush to Huduma Centres. Let’s verify any information before sharing,” added the board.
In the fake report, students were directed to visit the nearest Huduma Centres with their Identification (ID) Cards.
The flagged post said the hackers had accessed the portal but were still unable to transfer the funds.
HELB Gets Ksh 10 billion for Loans
This fake post comes at a time when the Higher Education Loans Board received Ksh10.39 billion of the Ksh14.4 billion released by the government as the second tranche to cover scholarships and loans for government-sponsored first year students in universities under the New Higher Education Funding Model.
Education CS Ezekiel Machogu said another Ksh3.98 billion was disbursed for scholarships through the Universities Fund (UF).
“The KSh.14.4 billion will be disbursed based on the applicant’s individual level of need under the New Funding Model,” said the CS.
Also Read: Govt Releases HELB & Scholarship Cash for University Students
He explained that the loans will also cover semester two 2023/2024 Academic year loans for continuing students.
“This brings to Ksh.23.6 billion the total amount released by the Government for loans and scholarships to First Year students since they joined their respective universities starting September 2023,” said Machogu.
The CS directed HELB to disburse tuition loans directly to respective universities/colleges and upkeep loans to the respective student bank accounts or mobile phone numbers.
“Universities will receive the scholarship portions for their respective students by Friday, January 19th, 2024,” added Machogu.
Also Read: HELB Responds After Claims of Stopping All Student Loans
First Disbursement
In October last year, the Government disbursed Ksh5.3 billion for student loans and a further Ksh3.9 billion for scholarships for the first years under the New Funding Model.
HELB also received Ksh10.3 billion in September 2023 to cater for continuing students’ loans in Universities and TVET Colleges.
Beneficiaries of the First-Year loans and scholarships are those who successfully made their applications through the Higher Education Financing portal (www.hef.co.ke).
Under the model, the Universities Fund will disburse funds directly to individual universities for the successful candidates to cover their tuition fees.
