College Students Rush to Beat HELB Deadline Amid Funding Concerns

More than 26,000 students who joined universities and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions have not submitted applications for government sponsorship.

This has raised concerns among parents that some of their children may miss out on government sponsorship and education loans because only those who submitted applications will be eligible for funding.

The deadline for submitting these applications was on October 7, 2023, after it was extended by a month due to a low number of applications, which left nearly half of the students locked out last month, in September.

The government launched this process on July 31, 2023, for students who had passed the 2022 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination and qualified to join universities and TVET institutions in the 2023/2024 academic year.

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However, some parents have complained that the application process was cumbersome and slow, with others, especially in rural areas, blaming the lack of infrastructure such as internet access, as the application process is solely online.

“Although the initial deadline for submitting applications was September 7, 2023, the deadline was extended to October 7, 2023, to allow all eligible students to submit their documents to ensure no one is left behind,” said Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu in a statement.

As of October 4, 2023, a total of 238,714 applications had been submitted.

A total of 269,112 students were selected by the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) to join universities and TVET institutions and were eligible for government sponsorship.

However, 3,608 and 26,790 students who were selected to join universities and TVET institutions, respectively, have not yet submitted their applications.

“This number is expected to increase after the placement service verifies data for students who have transferred to various degree courses and universities,” he said.

The Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) and the Universities Fund have begun the process of disbursing education funding and scholarships to all eligible students.

According to the Means-Tested Framework that determines KCSE students’ eligibility, those from low-income families have monthly incomes between Sh23,672 and Sh70,000, while financially able families have monthly incomes between Sh70,001 and Sh200,000.