Universities Fund to disburse Sh4.2 billion for student scholarships
The Universities Fund is set to disburse Sh4.2 billion in scholarship funds to public universities this week to support continuing students studying under the government’s new student financing framework.
The funds will benefit students enrolled in various academic programmes in public universities under the Student-Centered Funding Model (SCFM), a financing system introduced to ensure that government support follows individual students based on their financial needs.
According to the acting Chief Executive Officer of the Universities Fund, Edwin Wanyonyi, the disbursement forms part of the allocations under the 2025/2026 financial year budget aimed at supporting access to higher education for thousands of learners across the country.
Wanyonyi said the fund has already released Sh8.4 billion in scholarship support during the current financial year to assist students pursuing undergraduate programmes in public universities.
To qualify for government scholarships, students must be placed in public universities through the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS), have sat the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination in 2022 or later, and apply through the Higher Education Financing Portal (HEF).
Wanyonyi also noted that students who sat the 2025 KCSE examination and attained the minimum university entry grade will be expected to apply for scholarships through the same portal once the application window opens.
The announcement comes shortly after the Universities Fund held a technical workshop bringing together registrars and finance officers from public universities. The meeting focused on strengthening institutional capacity in managing scholarship funds, reporting, and reconciling student data under the new funding model.
Participants were trained on the Universities Fund Institutional Portal, a digital platform designed to help universities submit and verify student data for funding purposes more efficiently.
Since the introduction of the Student-Centred Funding Model in 2023, the government has disbursed over Sh37 billion in scholarships benefiting more than 437,000 students across the country.
Kenya’s higher education sector has expanded significantly in recent years, with 83 universities currently operating nationwide and the number of students qualifying for university admission rising sharply.
However, the growing demand for university education continues to strain available resources, highlighting the need for sustained government investment in higher education financing.
