Editorial: End the funding stalemate before it destroys students’ dreams
The Kibaki and Uhuru years demonstrated both the expansion and weaknesses of the old system. The Ruto administration has attempted a fundamental overhaul. But reform cannot be judged by the elegance of its policy documents. It must be judged by whether a poor student can walk through the university gate, attend class and complete a degree.Right now, too many students are being left outside that gate.
Kenya’s public universities are sliding into a funding crisis that the government can no longer dismiss as a temporary inconvenience. Thousands of students are stranded at home, while others who have reported to campus are struggling to pay fees, secure accommodation and meet basic living costs.
At the centre of this anguish is a funding model that appears to have become a moving target. The Government suspended the previous university financing arrangement as it awaits Parliament to enact the proposed Tertiary Education Placement and Funding Bill. Yet students have already been admitted, academic calendars have begun and universities are demanding money.
This is an unacceptable policy vacuum.
The government cannot tell students to report to university while simultaneously telling their parents to shoulder costs they cannot afford, then ask vulnerable learners to wait for Parliament to settle the legal framework.
The September 21 extension of the funding application window is welcome, but it does not resolve the fundamental problem. Extending an application deadline is not the same as guaranteeing that a student will receive money in time to remain in university.
For poor families, the distinction is enormous.
A student who cannot raise Sh20,000 to report to campus does not experience the funding crisis as an administrative delay. It is a closed university gate.
That is the reality facing students such as Davin Kemunto, who secured admission to Kisii University but says her family could not raise the money required for her to report. She had applied for a HELB loan but remained uncertain about whether the new financing system would support her.
Her predicament is a painful reminder that education policy is ultimately about people, not portals, spreadsheets and legislative timelines.
Kenya has travelled a long road in financing higher education. Under the administration of the late President Mwai Kibaki, the expansion of universities and increased admissions placed growing pressure on HELB and Government funding.
By 2011/12, official education-sector documents were already warning that the rapid expansion of university admissions was driving demand for loans and bursaries beyond available resources.
The system was imperfect, but students generally understood the basic bargain: the Government subsidised university education, universities received public funding and HELB provided loans and other assistance to students who needed support.
Under retired President Uhuru Kenyatta, that financing architecture expanded significantly. HELB says the number of university students under its funding programme rose from 109,189 in 2012 to 248,050 in 2018, while its funding budget increased from Sh6 billion to Sh13.2 billion over the same period.
But the old model also accumulated serious structural weaknesses. Government capitation failed to keep pace with enrolment and the rising cost of university education.
HELB itself noted that government sponsorship had remained at Sh70,000 per student for about 25 years despite rising costs.
President William Ruto’s administration therefore inherited a system under enormous financial pressure.
The answer was the New Funding Model unveiled in 2023. It promised to replace blanket institutional funding with student-centred financing based on household need and programme cost. The government said the poorest students would receive 100 per cent Government funding, combining scholarships and loans.
The ambition was understandable. The execution, however, has become the problem.
Instead of giving students certainty, the transition has produced confusion over fees, scholarships, loans, household contributions and the amount individual learners are expected to pay.
The Government’s own messaging has repeatedly emphasised that the new system would promote access and ensure students received adequate and timely support. Yet the experience now being reported by students is precisely the opposite: uncertainty at the point when certainty matters most.
This is not merely an administrative failure. It risks reversing decades of progress in expanding access to higher education.
The most vulnerable students are likely to pay the highest price. Wealthier families can bridge a funding gap while waiting for government support.
A poor household cannot. For such families, a delayed loan can mean a missed semester; an unpaid fee can mean being sent home; an inability to afford accommodation can mean abandoning university altogether.
That is why the government must immediately end the stalemate.
It must provide universities and students with a clear transitional financing arrangement that remains operational until the proposed law is enacted and a replacement system is fully functional. No student should be pushed out of university because Parliament has not completed legislation.
The government must also publish a clear timetable showing when scholarships, loans and institutional payments will be processed and disbursed. Students and parents should not have to navigate conflicting messages from universities, HELB, the Universities Fund and the Ministry of Education.
Parliament, too, must treat the proposed legislation with the urgency it deserves. The Bill should not become another bureaucratic holding bay while an academic year slips away.
Most importantly, the government must remember why public financing of higher education exists in the first place: to prevent poverty from determining who gets a degree.
Kenya cannot proclaim education as a pathway out of poverty while forcing poor students to remain at home because their families cannot produce money upfront.
The Kibaki and Uhuru years demonstrated both the expansion and weaknesses of the old system. The Ruto administration has attempted a fundamental overhaul. But reform cannot be judged by the elegance of its policy documents. It must be judged by whether a poor student can walk through the university gate, attend class and complete a degree.
Right now, too many students are being left outside that gate.
The government must stop experimenting with the future of an entire generation. End the funding stalemate, restore certainty and ensure that no Kenyan student loses an education opportunity because of a transition the State failed to manage.
