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.

Students at the University and Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) will now be able to receive Higher Education Loans Board (Helb) funds and bursaries through M-Pesa.

This new development follows inking of a deal between Helb and Safaricom on Tuesday that will enhance ease of accessibility and utility of the funds among learners.

According to Helb CEO Charles Ringera, the mobile payments solution will ensure that students receive their loans faster.

“We are going to embark on a programme where we shall be confirming whether the mobile numbers given by students belong to them to eliminate fraud,” he said.

Loan applications are currently open for first year university students and those in TVET institutions.

Students will access the system through Helb USSD by dialling *642#, as well as the mobile app, from where they can view their loan allocations, current balances, statements and make payments.

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Through the platform, Helb will acquire visibility of funds from various sources, and will be able to aggregate, reconcile in real time and report to its financiers. Continuing students will be able to receive notifications and utilise a financial planning tool on the portal while those who have graduated can track their repayments and generate statements.

Helb also reckons that allowing disbursement by M-Pesa will also promote responsible spending since some of the funds will be locked for specific allocations. For instance, tuition or library fees will only be accessible to the specific Paybill account of the recipient’s University or TVET institution.

The student’s upkeep allowance can now also be transferred to the student’s M-Pesa wallet for everyday use.

Helb’s gross budget estimate for the financial year 2020/2021 is Sh16.86 billion, which is made up of Sh11.3 billion government capitation and Sh5.5 billion Appropriation in Aid.

Ringera noted that Helb has put in place strategies to recover loans from past beneficiaries. In the last five years, there has been an increase of recoveries by over 300 per cent, he said.

“HELB recovered over Sh4.4 billion from past beneficiaries and this year we are on course to recover Sh5 billion amidst Covid-19 impact on our loanees.”

The solution will aid HELB to promote responsible spending with the funds locked for specific allocations, such as tuition or library fees only accessible to the specific Paybill account of the recipient’s University or TVET institution.

“We are pleased to support the Higher Education Loans Board to deploy a solution that suits the digital lifestyle of students in tertiary institutions,” said Sitoyo Lopokoiyit, Safaricom Chief Financial Services Officer.