President William Ruto has explained why students joining private universities will not qualify for government scholarships in this new funding model.

Speaking on Sunday, August 25, 2024, the Head of State explained that students joining private institutions of higher learning will only access loans.

In a Town Hall meeting, Ruto highlighted that most private universities are funded by companies and others receive financial aid from different sponsors.

He added that the financial support enables private universities to operate and fund their programmes, unlike public universities, which solely depend on government aid.

Further, the Head of State indicated that the model of giving scholarships to students in private universities was tested and led to an accumulation of huge debts.

“The only reason why we have said we cannot provide scholarships in this model is because in the past we said we were going to give them scholarships, and because we didn’t have the money, we put those private universities in a lot of trouble.

“In fact, one private university closed down, so it is better we keep our word. Today we have a debt of about Ksh51 billion owed to private universities, and it is unfair for us to continue accumulating debt,” Ruto stated.

The new funding model allocates funds to students based on their financial needs. It’s different from the previous model (Differentiated Unit Cost) which focused on the course that a student selected.

The model has five bands that are categorised based on a family’s monthly income.

Changing loan terms

Nonetheless, President Ruto hinted at changing the loan repayment scheme. The Head of State argued that it is unfair to ask beneficiaries to repay their loans when they are employed.

“We must look into the subject of the grace period, especially to consider that no student should be asked to pay until they have a job,” Ruto reiterated.

However, he ruled out lowering the loan interest rates due to the current financial status.