Close to 10,000 students who were placed in 31 private universities by the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) under the government-sponsored programme were forced to either defer or drop out of school after the government failed to remit about Ksh48.8 billion to the institutions. 

Documents tabled before MPs show that out of the 10,000 students, 2,105 learners dropped out of school and 7,087 deferred their programmes because of a lack of schools. 

Appearing before the education committee yesterday, the Kenya Association of Private Universities (KAPU) showed that between 2016 and 2025, only Ksh14 billion of the Ksh63 billion that was to be sent to universities had been disbursed. 

KAPU Secretary Edwin Simiyu told the MPs that after 2016, the government policy changed, where all students who had a mean grade of C+ and above were admitted to public and private universities.  

He said this led to private universities being reliant on KUCCPS for admission. 

While saying that they had already submitted the said details to the pending bills verification committee for authentication, he insisted that, for fairness and equity, students should have freedom of choice in regards to universities and programs they want, which should then be followed by funding. 

Disbursement of funds 

He said: “While the Government placed students in Private Universities, the process of disbursement of funds to facilitate the teaching of students has not been smooth and efficient. This has forced most of the Private Universities to eat into their reserves to finance the education of government-placed students. This has resulted in the financial crippling of KAPU members. Members are collectively owed billions of shillings (Ksh48.8 billion).” 

He added: “Private universities should be eligible for government funding through student capitation (Higher Education Financing), research grants and infrastructure development support, subject to accreditation and performance benchmarks.” 

To deal with the dropouts and deferral cases, Simiyu said that universities had adopted a number of interventions, including academic monitoring, offering of scholarships and workshops, academic linkages, as well as enhancing the campus students’ experience to ensure that students get a favourable and conducive experience. 

With regards to drop out and deferment of learners, the document shows that Methodist University had 998 students who dropped out of school, while 1272 learners deferred, Mt Kenya University had 146 students dropping out and 2833 deferring studies, and Catholic University had 200 students deferring studies.