Nearly 10,000 aggrieved students have so far registered appeals through the Higher Education Financing (HEF) portal contesting the new university funding model.
Universities Fund Chief Executive Officer Godfrey Monari disclosed that the review process has already begun, with students set to receive the status of their appeals within 3 weeks of application.
“We have received over 10,000 appeals, and this is an ongoing process. We want to identify where these needy students are so that we can place them in the correct funding band,” Monari stated.
“Once we process the appeals, we will update the universities to review the household fees for the students. We will also provide this information on the HEF portal, accompanied by an SMS alert to inform the students,” he added.
He noted that the Ministry of Education is considering using security apparatus, including the National Government Administration Officers (NGAO), to verify appeal cases to ensure the authenticity and accuracy of the data provided.
“We are going to engage NGAO to visit some of these students and verify the information they have given us,” Monari said.
Received funding
The Ministry of Education has so far received KSh5.8 billion for student loans and KSh2.8 billion for scholarships for disbursement to students across 5 bands categorized based on needs.
“This money will be released to the students next week, and we have already started the process. We will first release the loans because the students need the funds for their daily needs,” Monari explained assuring the release of scholarship funds to universities a week after.
He noted the processing of loans and scholarship awards for 127,000 students was complete, with the deadline for applications set for December 2024.
“This year, we are streamlining the banding process because this is the second cohort. In the first cohort, this was not an issue. What’s happening now is concern over the banding, and we are addressing it to review the issues,” said Monari.
The funding model places students in five bands using eight variables, including parents’ background, gender, course type, marginalization, disability, family size, and composition.
The model combines the variables to determine household needs and appropriate funding. However, parents and learners have decried miscategorization with a majority placed in Band IV and Band V.
Government Spokesperson Isaac Mwaura has been leading a government camping in defense of the newly introduced formula terming in an equalizer.
Funding model explained
In a briefing on 18 August, Mwaura noted that Band I students get 70% sponsorship by the government and up to 25% in student loans with parents and guardians meeting the 5% gap.
Under Band II, government extends 60% in scholarship and 30% in loans, with parents required to meet 10% in tuition costs.
Band III students will have 50% scholarship and up to 30% in loans with parents required to raise 20%.
Under Band IV, government will inject 40% in scholarship with students accessing 30% in loans while in Band V, government will pump 30% in scholarship with student accessing 30% in loans.
Parents support Band V students will pay 40% of required fees.
“The government has grouped families whose income does not exceed KSh120,000 but is above KSh70,000. In this group, the government scholarship will cover 40% while the loan will cover 30%. The family will pay 30% of the fees,” Mwaura noted.
This new funding framework replaces the Differentiated Unit Cost (DUC) model previously used to finance universities.
Unveiled by President William Ruto on 3 May, 2023, the model, aims to ensure that all eligible students receive financial support for their education.
