The Government has launched a new funding system for students in public universities. The new student-based system will replace the one where universities received capitation based on the students they had been allocated, and the courses they were registered for.

In the new system, the Higher Education Loans Board (Helb) will finance a student directly through a mixture of loans and scholarships. The student will be expected to cough up only about nine per cent of the fee directly.

The critical thing about the new model is that it represents an attempt to address major challenges that had plagued the previous system.

It can now be said that the old system had all but collapsed. Government capitation had fallen way behind the needs of public universities that have expanded exponentially, both in terms of the number of institutions, as well as students’ enrolment.

The dwindling capitation vis a vis growing obligations has left public universities stranded. They owe billions of shillings to all manner of suppliers including their own lecturers, with no end in sight, something was bound to give.

The Kenya Kwanza administration decided to bite the bullet and reform the system.

One of the reasons why previous regimes have been unable to reform the system is because it is so politically sensitive that previous regimes have backed off, and kicked the can down the road to be part of the “urgent challenges” facing their successors. However, the new system is facing substantial challenges that need to be urgently addressed.

First, the application portal has given all manner of grief to parents and students. It is terribly slow. Applicants have been forced to repeat the exercise several times before they achieve success.

This is the key reason why the uploading of applications onto the portal is proceeding at a snail’s pace. At this rate, a good number of those who want to apply will still be “fighting” with the system when they are supposed to have reported for studies.

Secondly, information being asked for should be clear. Some critical details being sought are unclear, making the filling of the application speculative, and a matter of guesswork.

The information being sought is so critical for applicants that it will adversely affect the applications of those who submit the “wrong” information through no fault of their own. Thirdly, HELB and the Government should have programmed the applications to ensure applicants got to know their approval status at least one month before their university entry.

Ideally, once the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) places students, they should be able to immediately apply for funding from Helb who should be able to respond within 24 hours.

After all, Helb is using an automated system to evaluate student eligibility in terms of both scholarship and loans. All these are ICT based systems. It should not be so difficult.

Finally, applicants who have been given loans need to know how they are expected to pay, and the payment systems. Further, Helb should go out of its way to make payments easy and convenient.

Some applicants might decide they no longer need funding midway in their degree programmes, and want to start repaying their loans immediately. All these are possibilities that Helb should facilitate. At the back of its mind, Helb should be grappling with the challenge of ensuring that arrears from the new system do not become an albatross around its neck.

Hopefully, Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu’s instructions to public universities to enroll all KUCCPS students as they await Helb to complete formalities of the application processes, and Government to release money for the students, will not turn out to be another debacle, with universities chasing away students.

Yes, let students register and start going to class. Helb and the Government must not hold students hostage to their lack of preparedness.

— [email protected]