Plan to end varsity funding for students from rich families

The government will no longer pay university fees for students whose families can comfortably afford.

President William Ruto has revealed plans to review the eligibility criteria for university student funding.

Currently, all students who score C+ and above are eligible for government sponsorship.

Ruto, while speaking during a media roundtable on January 4,  said most students who are funded by the  government can afford to pay school fees.

“How feasible is it for government to support so many students with little money instead of supporting the number of students that they can with adequate resources? "Ruto said.

If this plan is implemented, it means the government will undertake a background check on all university students.

"Why don't we allow them to pay for their child in university so that we support the children who cannot afford to  pay?" the President said.

This will help determine the need for students who would require funding.

A similar background check is undertaken by the Wings to Fly programme by Equity Bank.

Students apply for the scholarship, but they will be vetted by county officials to find out the truth of their financial situation.

Ruto revived an initial proposal that students from wealthy families pay higher fees.

The Universities Funding Board wanted introduction of targeted free tuition to allow only needy students to benefit from higher education funding.

“We have students in academies, they pay Sh100,000, Sh200,000 right all through from Standard 1 to Form 4, but when they go to university, we want to tell them, we can pay for all of them,” Ruto said.

The UFB in its strategic plan 2021-26 revealed that rapid growth in the number of students and institutions is posing a challenge for the financing of higher education.

Evidence gathered by the board revealed that a number of households, especially in middle and upper income families, don’t require financial support at  university.

“Inadequate funding has affected government efforts to enhance access, promote equity and inclusion for female students and students from low-income backgrounds,” the plan reads.

For instance, Helb asks for students' parents' details together with their income, when applying for loans.

But the board does not really conduct a background check to verify need'.

However, the details submitted will e used to determine how much loan the student will receive.

This proposal by Ruto also mirrors an initial plan revealed to merge the three varsity funding bodies.

They are the Higher Education Loan Board, the Universities Funding Board and Tvet.

While making their rich pay more presentations to the Education Review Team, university students and lecturers opposed the move.

University of Nairobi Student Association (UNSA) chairperson Melvin Thogo said the plan will not be a solution to the funding crisis in universities.

"While this may look attractive at face value, this is the easiest way to disenfranchise students of this fund," Thogo said.

The UNSA chairperson was making her submissions to the presidential Working Party on Education Reforms on Friday.

"Amalgamating the funds means the university administration will directly receive the money and then disburse them to students," Thogo said.

Lecturers  also opposed the move, saying the merger is likely to interfere with the transparency of the funds disbursed.

UASU secretary at the UoN chapter Maloba Wekesa said merging the mandate of Helb and UF will be a huge mistake.

Maloba said the two bodies should be left to operate independently within their mandate.

" It would be ill-advised if the Higher Educations Loans Board, which is burdened with the logistics of student loans, were to be merged with the University Fund.," Wekesa said.

The union secretary added that university funds should be budgeted and funnelled through the University Fund semi-autonomously from the Ministry.

(Edited by V. Graham)