University students may soon start receiving more than five times what they get as loans from the Higher Education Loans Board, Helb, should a proposal by the Ministry of Education and the statutory body be passed.

A petition to increase HELB funding to a maximum allocation of  Sh200,000 per year has been taken to the parliament by the principal secretary for University Education and Research in the Ministry of Education, Simon Nabukwesi, and the Helb chief executive officer, Charles Ringera.

Currently, students receive an average of Sh37,000 annually, an amount the PS and the CEO say is too little for students to pay school fees and cater for their upkeep given the rising economic demands.

Nabukwesi, however, said that the board is underfunded and therefore unable to adequately fund the students.

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“Due to low funding, many students missed this year’s loans. Helb is currently giving the students an average rate of Sh37,000, which is not enough. We need more funding to enable Helb to raise the loan allocation to Sh200,000 per student annually,” said Mr Nabukwesi.

According to Mr Ringera, in the 2021/2022 financial year, Helb plans to finance a total of 74,438 first year university students against 128,073 students that were placed by Kenya Universities and Central Placement Services (Kuccps), leaving out a total 53,635 students under government sponsorship.

Ringera said this is attributed to the available budget for the year, and asked members of parliament to consider allocating more funding to the board.

“Helb understands the need to give funds to all the students who applied for the loans and has requested for an additional Sh4.9 billion to cover the deficit,” he said.

Mr Nabukwesi and Mr Ringera appeared before the Education Committee of the National Assembly two weeks ago, to explain why Helb is yet to release funding for the students joining universities and other institutions of higher learning for the 2021/2022 academic year.

The parliament’s committee on education has launched a push for reforms on higher education loans, proposing that the age limit for applicants be struck off.

The committee grilled education ps, Julius Jwan and HELB CEO Charles Ringera over the HELB age limit, accusing them of blocking deserving students from acquiring higher education.

Homa Bay MP Peter Kaluma said several learners have been denied an opportunity to join university for lack of national identity card or the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) pin number having not attained the age of 18.

“So many students have not yet taken their slots in university and it’s because they are underage. Not because they did not perform. Helb is denying students their right of education just because of age,” he said.

Read also:

Top 15 counties With The Highest Helb Disbursement Numbers / beneficiaries 2020 / 2021 Academic Year

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Close To 50% Of First Years to miss Helb loans and Laptop Loans

How to Apply for First time undergraduate HELB loan in 2021 and get Maximum Disbursement

How to Apply for TVET HELB loan in 2021 and get Maximum Disbursement

How to Apply For a HELB Penalty Waiver

How To Appeal To HELB if Your HELB Loan Application 2021 is Rejected

How To Appeal To HELB if Your HELB Loan Disbursement 2021 is Below Kshs. 60,000

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Nyeri Town MP Ngunjiri Wambugu said: “You are using this as an excuse to keep students out. The whole idea of this loan is to make it easy for students to get to get to university but it’s starting to look like the loans are making it harder,” he said.

Helb CEO Charles Ringera however said budget constraint is the biggest hurdle in the sector. He said the portal is always open for the underage to apply once they are of age.

“We are now working towards attaching parents to sign on behalf of students yet to be of age,” said Ringera.

Underage students from 2016-2020

2016: 3,500 students

2017: 3,300 students

2018: 2,900 students

2019: 2,500 students

2020: 2,200 students