The average capitation for government-sponsored students in private universities dropped to its lowest in the year ended June 2023—the last year of the programme — highlighting the funding woes that prompted the State to end the arrangement.
Official data from the University Funding (UF) shows that the State allocated an average of Sh35,415.55 in the last year of the programme as the number of continuing students hit 89,644.
The drop in capitation came amid nearly stagnant allocations from the cash-strained Exchequer, with the State finally dropping the funding arrangement in favour of a formula where State-sponsored students opting to join private universities will foot their own tuition cost.
The drop in average capitation pushed the funding deficit to private universities to the highest in a financial year at Sh14.35 billion and Sh41.6 billion for the six years that the institutions have admitted State-sponsored students.
UF chief executive Geoffrey Monari says the agency is following up with the Treasury to ensure the debt is cleared.
“We are following up and requesting for the deficit to be cleared,” he told the Business Daily on Tuesday.
Private universities received an average allocation of Sh84,217.04 per student on government sponsorship in the year ended June 2018 but the amount has since been dropping amid increased enrollment and near stagnant budgetary allocations.
The State will from September give scholarships, loans and bursaries, as opposed to the uniform and quite inequitable capitation witnessed under the Differentiated Unit Cost model.
The new funding formula is meant to ease pressure on public universities besides allowing only needy students to get financial support from the State.
GSS opting to join private universities will, henceforth, only qualify for loans offered by the Higher Education Loans Board (Helb).
Under the new model, funding is student-centred and will be apportioned according to their levels of need classified into four factors, namely vulnerable, extremely needy, needy and less needy.
Private universities have since 2016 been admitting State-sponsored students under a program that was meant to ease the pressure on overcrowded public universities.
UF data shows that private universities pocketed Sh15.32 billion for the 89,644 Government Sponsored Students (GSS) admitted until the financial year that ended last month.
But the Exchequer has over the years failed to match funding allocations with the sharp rise in student numbers, leading to the deficit that hurt the cash flows of the private universities.
Private and public universities had taken a hit from the DUC model where the State was expected to pay up to 80 percent of the tuition costs with the homes footing the remaining 20 percent.
Universities received block funding in the form of grants based on the DUC but the funding will now be based on three levels of need – vulnerable, less vulnerable and able.
