Resolve these varsity funding hitches fast

When university students camped outside the National Treasury building in Nairobi demanding the release of HELB funds on Feb 3, 2023. [Wilberforce Okwiri, Standard]

The fate of most students selected to join universities beginning next month is still uncertain under the new funding model.

Even though many poor students who had been placed into expensive degree programmes have already opted for courses that are relatively 'cheaper', they are still keeping their fingers crossed.

There are also fears that the Means Testing Instrument (MTI) tool being used to determine the level of need for funding students could be skewed to limit level of sponsorships as part of government austerity measures. With universities demanding full payment of first semester fees before approving online registration process, most students are stuck because they are still waiting for scholarships applied through the Higher Education Funding (HEF) portal.

We hope the government will release university scholarships this month as earlier indicated to enable parents plan for admission of their daughters and sons. It will be imprudent to release disbursements in September since most universities have scheduled their orientation programmes for next month. The level of crisis witnessed during university admissions for 2022 cohorts should not be allowed to recur.

Concerns have been raised that students without national IDs are disadvantaged because they cannot apply for loans from Higher Education Loans Board (HELB). Students who applied for IDs last December have been affected by inefficiency at the National Registration Bureau. All they have are waiting cards which cannot help their cause.

While HELB Chief Executive Charles Ringera has reassured that birth certificates can be used in situations where there is delay in issuance of national identity cards, that guarantee is hollow. This is because all applicants are required to have bank accounts and cellphone number registered in their names. This means that such students are technically locked out because mobile money service providers and banks need IDs to open such accounts.

The government should ensure students are not denied opportunity to pursue university education.