The new university funding model has run into headwinds because of inadequate funds, failure by students to admit their vulnerability status and bribery claims.

In addition, Higher Education and Research Principal Secretary, Beatrice Inyangala, said the Ministry of Education’s assumption that students who went to national schools were able to pay for their university education failed to yield credible data.

Inyangala admitted that placing students in various bands has been difficult because the ministry has failed to obtain accurate data on the students’ vulnerability and the actual income of their families.

“The Ministry conducted a survey to collect the data and found that 53 per cent had left their forms in the cyber cafés to be filled by the staff. This compromised the data we were collecting to place the students in the right bands,” said Inyangala.

The PS also disclosed there was an assumption that students who attended national schools would be able to be placed in Band Three- which is costlier.

“This got a challenge as some students were studying on bursaries,” she explained

Appearing before the Senate Education Committee in a session chaired by Prof Margaret Kamar (Nominated), Inyangala was at pains to convince the committee that the new university funding model is a panacea to higher education in the country. The senators put the Higher Education PS to task on how the ministry collected the student’s data.

More expensive

“How was the collection of the data done and why couldn’t the ministry use chiefs to establish the vulnerability of the students?” posed John Kinyua, the Laikipia senator.

On his part Nyandarua’s John Methu questioned why the model has made university education unaffordable, citing that under the Differentiated Unit Cost (DUC), students would pay a paltry Sh16,000 while under the New Funding Model (NFM) a similar student would part with Sh90,000.

“This new model was to reduce financial barriers but it seems that it has made university education more expensive and unaffordable to many students,” charged Methu.

Lenku Seki Ole Kanar (Kajiado) wanted to know if the ministry had done adequate sensitisation, especially in marginalised areas for the students to make the right application to be placed in the correct bands based on their affordability.

“What has the ministry done in areas like Turkana, Samburu and other far-flung areas where there are poor parents who cannot afford the bands that they have been placed?” posed Kanar.

In her response, Inyangala told the committee that the ministry, in coming up with the parameters for the new funding model placed income bracket, poverty index and the number of children in primary and secondary to be used for the placement of students in the bracket.

She explained that the NFM was introduced to enhance the equity and efficiency objectives of the previous funding framework based on the DUC.

“This model was implemented in a context where 23 out of 40 public universities were technically insolvent. Its implementation has increased the flow of funds to universities and is projected to resolve the funding crisis in universities,” said Inyangala.

According to Inyangala, 91,881 out of 145,514 students, representing 63 per cent, are distributed in Bands 1, 2 and 3 and a majority of the students representing 73 per cent 132,430 students out of 145,514 pay fees of Sh60,000 or less each year.

Currently, students paying Sh30,000 and below are 54,274 representing 37 per cent, those paying between 30,001 and 60,000 are 52,169 (36 per cent), those paying Sh60,001-Sh90,000 are 25,987 while those that pay Sh90,001 and above are 13,084 representing only 8 per cent respectively.

In the Financial Year 2024/25, 131,991 students of the KCSE 2023 cohorts were funded through loans worth Sh13.8billion with another 134,889 students awarded scholarships worth Sh13.9billion.

Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) Chief Executive Officer Geoffrey Monari said that the agency created forms to establish the vulnerability of the students and sent some 30,000 forms to the chiefs and assistant chiefs at the local level.

However, of the 30,000 forms, only 12,000 responses were returned with 95 per cent of the responses showing that the students were from poor backgrounds and therefore needed 95 per cent of government funding.

“We tried to establish accurate data using the chiefs but we could not get all the responses. In some instances, we got reports that the chiefs were calling the parents for facilitation,” said Monari.

According to Monari, some students change their phone numbers once they join universities making the disbursement of the funds bounce back.

“We have however simplified the application process where students can track their application in the portal,” he explained

The NFM, which is in its second year of implementation, seeks to ensure that students from low-income backgrounds receive the highest government support through scholarships and loans.