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Azimio legislators have demanded that the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) allow for a third review of placement of students to give a chance to the over 500,000 students who missed placement.

In a statement, the coalition regretted that the Sh1,500 charged for each application — coupled with a lack of information about the process — was what led to the low application rate that left out many qualified students.

Leader of the Minority in the National Assembly Opiyo Wandayi regretted that the new fees for universities had dashed hopes for thousands of learners who sat last year’s Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE).

“By government’s own admission, out of the 881,416 learners who sat KCSE exams in 2022, almost 600,000 did not apply to KUCCPS to join universities or colleges. This accounts for 68 per cent of youths that the government of Kenya cannot account for. We demand, therefore, that KUCCPS opens immediately for a third review to give chance to the over 600,000 who missed this life-changing government service coalition has opposed,” he said.

“That it will cost a Kenyan household through a government sponsored Bachelor of Pharmacy programme in Maseno University Sh428,000 and Sh336,000 in JKUAT for an engineering course a year is outrageous.”
The coalition also wants the Kenya Kwanza Government to halt forthwith the new Funding Model and improve on the current one that is being implemented.

According to the coalition, the new model has led to bloated fees structures from Kenyan public universities which will cost a Kenyan household through government sponsored degrees more.

In particular, Wandayi regretted that the new classification of citizens that has placed very few (29 per cent) in the category of vulnerable and very needy as they are the ones who will qualify for 100 per cent support in scholarships has left behind a majority of students who will now be forced to raise loans and seek parental burden to support their education.

“Needless to say, that many children will drop out of university. The purported new Funding Model has fraudulently shifted the burden of funding college studies from the government and placed it squarely on the shoulders of parents and learners through expensive loans,” he said.

He added: “The aftermath of this bad policy by the Kenya Kwanza government will be jobless graduates choking on loans whose interest rates have not been disclosed or at worst thousands of college drop-outs from the high cost of acquiring a university education.”
Needy categories
In the statement Wandayi said it is worrying that those who do not fall under vulnerable and needy categories will be forced to meet up 62 per cent of the cost of their studies as the government conveniently carries 28 per cent of the cost.
He added, “these are the same parents that are struggling with the huge tax burdens that the disgraced Finance Act 2023 has yoked on their shoulders. Under the previous model, the government was expected to meet 80 per cent of the college fees while parents were to meet 20 per cent.”
Wandayi’s statement comes after the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms proposed a significant increase of 225 percent in fees paid by government-sponsored students in public universities.
Currently, students pay Sh 16,000 for tuition fees, and the proposed increase would raise this amount to Sh 52,000 per annum for each student.