GOV’T LOWERS UNIVERSITY FEES AS IT TARGETS TO SPONSOR 700,000 LEARNERS

Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba, who spoke during the 29th graduation ceremony of Moi Teachers Training College in Baringo county, said the move follows extensive consultations between his ministry, the public, students, and higher education stakeholders. Ogamba directed public universities to adopt the new fees schedule based on a Student-Centred Funding Model which will be effective from September 1 this year for first-year as well as continuing students. The CS, while urging the institutions to update their admissions and finance portal,s gave an assurance of the government’s commitment to supporting all deserving learners. He stated that this academic year, under the new funding model, the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) and the university fund are expected to support 201 696 first-year university students and over 237,000 Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) students in addition to 257,523 ongoing students. Ogamba announced that the disbursement of HELB loans will begin on August 15 of this year after the government increased its annual funding from Sh 36 billion to Sh 41 billion in order to help students settle for their academic journey without interruption.