Education loan application has now been opened for about 300,000 students in universities and colleges.

Higher Education Loans Board (Helb) has invited the requests for second and subsequent applicants with a total budget of Sh12.3 billion.

“We are pleased to invite applications for the second and subsequent undergraduate loan 2020/2021 financial year from Kenyan students admitted in government-sponsored or self-sponsored programmes in public and private universities recognised by Commission for University Education,” Helb said.

Application deadline is set for June 30. Helb announced that for the very first time, subsequent loan applications will be done seamlessly through the Helb App.

The government sends capitation of Sh30,000 to all TVET students annually. In addition to this, Helb sends each student Sh26,000 and another Sh14,000 for upkeep.

For university students, the figure was revised from Sh43,000 to Sh68,000.

University placement

Thousands of students who sat last year’s KCSE will know courses and universities they have been placed in when the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) releases the results at the end of this month.

Some 125,746 candidates met university entry grades and more than 350,000 qualified for diploma and certificate courses.

Helb Chief Executive Officer Charles Ringera said Sh7.6 billion has been allocated to support 196,613 continuing students, who are expected to submit their loan applications.

Another Sh4.7 billion will be made available for 110,250 first time applicants to universities and colleges.

“This will bring the overall 2020/2021 budget for undergraduate students to Sh11.2 billion, with the balance funded from loans recoveries,” said Ringera.

This means that the board must recover another Sh1.1 billion to plug the deficit.

Mr Ringera said some 61,000 Kenyans who benefited from the loans were yet to start making payments.

However, he said 160,076 loan accounts valued at Sh24.5 billion, which had matured for payments, were already being serviced. Data shows 752,327 Kenyans are yet to complete servicing their Helb loans. This translates to Sh93.6 billion, which must be recovered by the lender.

By start of this year, some 1,000,907 Kenyans had benefited from the loans. This translates to some Sh113 billion spent on the students. Only 215,778 beneficiaries have cleared their loans of about Sh21.5 billion, Ringera said.