State in talks with universities to lower fees

 

Universities Fund Chief Executive Officer Geoffrey Monari during an interview at Hazina Towers on September 11, 2023. [Edward Kiplimo, Standard]

Details have emerged on plans by the government to push university fees down even as the new funding model continues to face fierce opposition.

The Standard has established that the Ministry of Education has opened negotiations with university vice-chancellors to push for a review of programme costs.

The current programme's costs were set in 2023 when the new funding model took effect. This saw universities given a leeway to provide the costs of each of their programmes.

However, despite the provision of government support in the form of scholarships and loans, the new course costs have come under sharp scrutiny from various quarters, including parents, students and politicians.

Universities Fund Chief Executive Officer Geoffrey Monari on Friday said that they have opened negotiations with vice-chancellors to harmonise and lower the fees.

“We are engaging the universities actively to see whether there are programmes that can be reviewed in terms of courses because we agreed that they should give a discount,” Monari said.

He spoke during a media sensitisation forum in Naivasha.

The new tuition fees have been a subject of discontent among the public with cries that they are too expensive.

In the first year of implementation, it emerged that some students opted for cheaper courses rather than their preferred choices.

Under the new university funding model, known as the Student-Centered Funding Model, the amount university students will pay to study various degree programmes varies from one institution to the other.

The institutions were, in 2023, asked to review the cost of their programmes and report to the education ministry the new cost they will establish.

Monari said university funding will offer a 15 per cent discount on actual programme cost.

“We are looking at adherence to that and ensure that is done and then continuously review based on the number of students they have and the programmes that they are undertaking,” Monari said.

A sample of the current university fees shows that the cost of doing Dental Surgery degree is about Sh612,000 at Moi University and Sh521,840 per year at The University of Nairobi (UoN).

Bachelor's degree in Law at Mount Kenya University (MKU) will cost Sh170,000 per annum.

Chief Justice Martha Koome has termed the university education funding model discriminatory. 

The CJ said if the current model is implemented as it is, there will be a serious inequality gap in the universities. She has called for a review of the whole structure. 

Koome suggested that all bursaries be collapsed into one to make education free for all, as the fate of thousands of learners set to join universities for their higher learning remains in limbo and confusion continues to reign in the new university funding model.

"That a child who has qualified to go to the university can be there crying, saying I have been put in Band 5 when I ought to be in Band 1 and therefore I cannot afford to go to the university,” Koome said.

The Ministry of Education used the Means Testing Instrument (MTI) to determine the appropriate financial assistance each learner deserves based on self-generated information on their family background, including monthly income.

However, the disparity and unfairness occasioned by the banding threaten to lock needy and vulnerable learners from accessing higher education.

Narc Kenya leader Martha Karua termed the model as unconstitutional and open to manipulation.

According to Karua, no or little public participation was done before the government embarked on the new funding model, which was hurriedly implemented.

"This model, if implemented without public participation, will be unconstitutional. it is denying countless young Kenyans the chance to better their lives,” said Karua.