26/06/2023
New Higher Education Funding Model might burden students
The new funding model for higher education might be more expensive for students than the current Differentiated Unit Cost (DUC) model. Besides negatively affecting college education for many students, especially those from low-income households, the new model might burden students after graduation.
How bad might the new funding model be for students? For one, the criteria to be used to place students into the four categories might erroneously place a student in the wrong category. For instance, an extremely needy or vulnerable student might be wrongly placed in the needy or less needy category. These errors will force this student's family to look for money to cater for the 7 percent of the fees, which some families may not be able to raise. Secondly, the criteria may promote corruption, which may shortchange needy students. Since officers such as chiefs will be tasked with proving the financial status of households, they may demand bribes from people to recommend them. Those who do not bribe may receive a negative recommendation.
Thirdly, the new funding model is costly because even those who receive a 100 percent scholarship will have an automatic HELB loan, 18 percent for the vulnerable, and a 30 percent loan for extremely needy students. The loans might burden the beneficiaries after they complete their studies because the loan amounts they will receive will be higher than the loans HELB has been giving government-sponsored students. For instance, if a degree course costs KES 200,000 per year, the government will give a scholarship of KES 164,000 to an extremely needy student. The student will receive a loan of KES 36,000 from HELB, which goes directly to the school account.
The new model is expensive for the four categories because the loan will be sent directly to the school account, unlike in the DUC model, where students receive the loan in their accounts. Since the loan will be sent directly to the schools’ accounts, how will the students survive on campus because, currently, students depend on HELB loans to cater for other expenses? The new model will make households cater for sustenance expenses such as accommodation from other sources, unlike in the DUC model when students receive the HELB loan in their accounts, which some students use to pay their fees and cater for other expenses.
Assuming the model is good, the worrying question that begs answers is; will there be enough money to give scholarships and loans to all the 173,120 students who qualified to join the university in 2022 KCSE if the government failed to provide the flat rate capitation in full and loans to all the 145,325 government-sponsored students in the 2022/2023 academic year?
