Half of varsity freshers to miss Helb allocations

Half of the 67,124 students set to join public universities from September will not get loans after the Treasury informed the Higher Education Loans Board (Helb) that it will not honour its request for additional funds.

The board says it needs an extra Sh2 billion after the Treasury allocation Sh7.5 billion for the year that started last month to cater for 135,000 continuing students and the freshers.

Helb chief executive Charles Ringera says the funding crisis has been complicated by Treasury’s notice that it will not offer the board additional funding through a supplementary budget.

“We will only manage to issue loans to half of the new applicants from the group that will be joining this year,” said Mr Ringera.

“Continuing students will need Sh6 billion in this financial year while new students will require Sh2.7 billion,” he added.

The total Sh8.7 billion excludes Helb’s budget for its operations such as rent, utilities and staff pay. The loans will be issued on a first-come-first-served basis and the freshers will be expected to put in their application from next week.

The financial constraints come despite increased Helb allocation from Sh5.7 billion to Sh7.5 billion.

There has been a sharp rise in enrolment of students in public universities, straining resources at Helb whose capitation has been growing at a slower pace.

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University intake increased to 67,124 from about 57,000 last year, pushing up the demand for loans. About 41 per cent of the new students are women.

“There have been an improvement this year in terms of women intake as well as the overall admission of the students who have received admission at the universities,” said David Muraguli, the chief executive of the Kenya University and Colleges Central Placement Services —the admitting body.

Most of the students come from poor backgrounds and require financial assistance to meet their tuition fees and upkeep. The underfunding has prompted protests from students in recent years.

The loans agency in January cut the highest allocation per student to Sh50,000 from Sh60,000 per academic year for freshmen who joined university last year.