Economy

Bursary requests by private varsity students up 61 pc

NAKURU-BURSARY

Students in Nakuru queue to collect and fill bursary forms on July 5, 2021. PHOTO | JOHN NJOROGE | NMG

The number of government bursary applicants from private universities jumped 61 percent in the year ended June 2020, indicating the economic hardship facing households in Kenya.

The Economic Survey 2021 released last week shows 23,757 students from private universities applied for bursary in the financial year 2019/2020, compared to 14,777 in the 2018/2019 year, indicating a 60.8 percent jump.

The number of students awarded was 2,828 compared to 2,047 in the previous year.

The funds are awarded by the government to students from poor households, low-income earners, and orphans.

The jump in applications from students admitted to private universities reflects constraints from most households in an economy that was experiencing difficulties even before the pandemic hit in March last year.

Bursary applicants from public universities increased by 18.7 percent to 172,818 from 145,56, out of which 10.6 percent were awarded bursaries.

However, beneficiaries declined by 9.7 percent to 18,250 from 20,200.

The number of applicants from Technical and Vocational Education and Training (Tvet) institutions awarded bursaries stood at 19,157 compared to 68,589 applications, up from 16,279 beneficiaries and 41,273 applications.

The jump follows at a time when students choose to pursue Tvet programmes which are charge lower rates than university degrees from both public and private universities.