More than 2,000 students who are set to join colleges and universities in September will not access funding from the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB).
Speaking on Monday, August 14, HELB Chief Executive Officer Charles Ringera said the students will not get loans because they are underage. Ringera noted that the Board will lock out those without national identification cards.
“National Identity is particularly important for purposes of identifying the students, particularly post when they are repaying the loans.
The law of contract says that you cannot contract with a minor. A loan is a contract,” Charles Ringera explained.
However, the HELB CEO reiterated that the students can still apply for loans with their KSCE Index number, but they will not get the funding until they acquire their National Identity card.
Furthermore, the HELB CEO went on to disclose that the students though under 18 years are eligible for scholarship program provided by University Funds.
Data from the University Fund program shows that over six thousand students have already applied for scholarships under the new funding model.
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Moreover, Universities fund body, HELB and the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Services (KUCCPS) have urged to students to speed up registration process to give the bodies ample time to process the loans.
“Our hope is that the students do not apply late so that they are not locked out of the Universities. Universities also have calendars,” the University Fund (UF) CEO Geofrey Monari stated.
HELB, KUCCPS Hail New funding model
Consequently, the three bodies, HELB, KUCCPS, and University Funding program revealed that the new funding model has led to equality in student’s choices of university.
CEO KUCCPS Dr. Agness Wahome gave a case study of Garissa University that has attracted more numbers that ever before in this new model.
“All the numbers in public universities went up, I can give an example of Garissa University, where there were a lot of concerns with the university unable to attract a lot of students.
When we did an assimilation for first revision, they already had over 1,000 students and in the past, they could only attract 200 students,” CEO KUCCPS said.
Additionally, Monari clarified that students for who switch programs or transfer to other universities their funding allocation will be transferred too.
“From the funding perspective if you change your program, the money will follow you to where you are going. If you change your university from Maseno to Rongo your scholarship and HELB loan will follow the student. That is why it is a student-centered model,” Monari said.
By 2028, in this model, University funding will require Ksh.145 billion from loans only, scholarships will be looking at another Ksh.75 billion.
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HELB in conjunction with the Universities Fund has opened applications for 2023-2024 undergraduate student scholarships and loans.
The scholarships and loans are targeting students set to join institutions of higher learning under the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Services (KUCCPS).
However, the student loan is only for those placed or self-sponsored programmes in Public and Private Universities in Kenya and the East African Community that are recognized by the Commission for University Education (CUE).
Eligible students, under the old model, are Undergraduate Students applying for the First-Time student loan who say for their KCSE before the year 2022.
