The State has been told to seek alternative ways of funding university and colleges students, including use of unclaimed financial assets.

This comes even as the government gave in to public pressure and formed a team to review the controversial funding model that recently saw thousands of university students take to the streets to oppose its implementation.

Dr Vincent Gaitho, Pro-Chancellor at Mt Kenya University (MKU) says the government now has several sources of funding which are opportunities to boost cash inflows to the Higher Education Loans Board (Helb) for later access by desperate students.

“The government needs to think outside the box. For instance, the Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority (UFAA) is holding about Sh45 billion which is lying idle. Some of these funds can be used to boost HELB and to be repaid later,” he said.

Dr Gaitho, who also chairs the Private Education Sector Board, was speaking during a panel discussion on the government’s new university funding model hosted by a local TV station at Machakos University.

Discriminatory model

The model has been criticized by students and their parents as discriminatory, inefficient and being wrought with system delays, prompting President William Ruto to intervene and form a committee to review the system.

President Ruto appeared to bow to pressure after his administration initially put up a spirited defence of the university fees model and announced the formation of a National Working Committee to review the process in the wake of a backlash from students and the general public.

Dr Gaitho said multinational and other local corporates making and declaring huge profits should also be encouraged to donate funds as a form of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to boost HELB’s revolving funding to higher education students.

“Recently, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) handed over corruptly acquired assets worth more than Sh 5 billion to President Ruto. These assets can be given to Helb to fund students in institutions of higher learning,” the don remarked.

In a ceremony held at State House on September 11, EACC’s CEO Twalib Mbarak handed over titles to the various recovered properties. The corruptly acquired assets included 35 title deeds measuring 18.71 acres with a total value of Sh5 billion and cash assets totaling Sh 511.4 million.

State sponsorship

According to Gaitho, government allocation per students sponsored by the State in private universities dropped from Sh70, 000 when the programme started in 2016 to about Sh40,000 when the project ended.

This forced the private institutions to help the students scramble for bursaries, scholarships and other funds to close the gap.

The Head of Lending at Helb, King’ori Ndegwa, admitted that there are delays in disbursing money to universities, colleges and student accounts because of competing demands at Treasury.

“This might force reporting students to conduct fund raisers in the meantime so as to meet personal needs and requirements by the institutions,” he added.

Dagorreti North MP, Beatrice Elachi who was in the panel said a Bill is in process in Parliament to harmonise all the bursaries (from national and county governments, CDF, parastatals and the private sector) currently funding higher education to be centralised. She called on Helb to facilitate students without national identity cards (IDs) to access funding.

“Helb should also make it easier for students to apply for loans,” Elachi pleaded.

However, according to King’ori of Helb, 55,000 new students without IDS have been allowed to use their KCSE index numbers and birth certificates to access funding.

Meru University Vice Chancellor, Prof Romano Odhaimbo, warned students that whereas the fruits of higher education are normally sweet, the path to reap the fruit is tough, depressing and bitter. He acknowledged that the State has set up a committee that includes student leaders to discuss the way forward on the new funding model.

Prof Odhianbo said he was supported by well-wishers from primary school to Form Six whereas at university, he was funded by the government.

He said out of 153,000 students who scored C+ and above in the 2023 KCPE results, 146,000 have signed on for assistance from the new funding model.

“Public universities are owned by the State; VCs are only CEOs. University councils are in charge of overall administration, budgets and approval of expenditures. Internal and government external auditors ensure that the funds are not being misused,” the VC said.