University Students to Wait Longer For HELB Disbursement
A high number of students who applied for university and college education funding have received preliminary results but the they will be forced to wait a little longer to learn their fate.
According to Charles Ringera,the HELB CEO, over 139,060 first-year university students have already submitted their applications for government funding under the model that will be implemented for the first time this year.
However, the above number falls slightly short of the expected 140,107 students placed by the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (Kuccps) in various degree programs.
HELB has so far acquired preliminary results and are presently in the process of validating this information,an exercise that will take take few more days.
All students assigned to technical and vocational education and training (Tvet) institutions submitted an additional 109,798 applications henc bringing the total number of new applicants to 248,858.
Earlier September, the current Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu had ordered all public institutions to admit students without tuition fees while they awaited the outcome of their applications, hence causing students to eagerly await the results.
On the other hand , Mr.Geoffrey Monari,who is the CEO of the Universities Fund (UF), had initially given a budget of 155,814 students during a previous event, but in the end, they placed 140,107 students.
Out of the above population,a total of 130,485 students placed in public universities will receive scholarships and loans, while the remaining 9,662 students placed in private universities will be eligible for loans.
The new funding model takes into account factors such as individual need and program cost, as the anticipated cost for the fiscal year 2023-2024 being Sh39.4 billion. Helb will provide the loan, while UF will provide the scholarships.
University Students to Wait Longer For HELB Disbursement