In the coming days, university students will pay a lot more for their education as the government is apparently in support of an increase in school fees. The amount of school fees is likely to rise up to three times what students are currently paying for their education.
Vice-Chancellors in Universities across the country want learners to pay up to a whooping Ksh. 48,000, up from the current Ksh. 16,000 per year. The National Treasury along with the Ministry of Education supported the proposal during a meeting with lawmakers on Wednesday.
The change in policy will need Cabinet and Parliamentary approval. However, the chances of this succeeding as a government-supported agenda are high as soon as next year due to the financial problems universities have encountered in these corona-affected times.
Universities are in debt of an amount as much as Ksh. 37.3 Billion in statutory deductions. The accumulated funds are for the Pension Schemes, Sacco contributions, Insurance Premiums, NHIF, NSSF, and the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA).
The Permanent Secretary for the Treasury Julius Muia and Higher Education PS Simon Nabukwesi acknowledged that universities are facing financial turmoil and the amounts of the current fees undergo a review.
Public universities vice-chancellors’ committee chair Prof Geoffrey Muluvi told Member of Parliament that the current fees were set in 1989 and has seen no changes so far.
“It was estimated that the average cost for a student to study at university was around Kshs. 120,000. This amount entails Kshs. 86,000 covering tuition while Ksh. 34,000 covers student upkeep as well as stationery,” Dr. Muluvi told the National Assembly Education Committee under Chairperson Florence Mutua, who is a Businesswoman from Busia.
The government has been paying Ksh. 70,000 while students pay Kshs. 16,000. However, he said that the current cost per student has sharply risen to around 254,644 according to Nation.
The vice-chancellors argued that when fees rise to Ksh. 48,000 from Ksh. 16,000 per annum, the government should adequately fund the Higher Education Loans Board to support the needy students to protect them from the harsh effects of the increment of varsity fees.
The VCs want to fund based on a criterion called Differentiated Unit Cost (DUC).
The varsity VCs want funding based on a factor decided by the Universities funding board in consultation with other stakeholders or funds rationalized and based on average student unit costs.
Dr. Muluvi said that the funding as postulated in the vice-chancellors committee ranged from Kshs. 144,000 for humanities and social sciences to around 720,000 for dentistry at the clinical level.
Mr. Muia told the Members of Parliament that the Education Ministry has to conduct extensive reforms to ensure Public universities address the current financial crisis they are going through.
“The National Treasury will need to provide more resources after having discussions with the Ministry and individual universities,”
Mr. Nabukwesi said that public universities face a huge problem of finances.
“For students not to struggle to pay the new school fees rates, vice-chancellors have proposed that HELB increased student loans to at least Ksh. 68,000.
“Once increased, the amount will enable students to bear with the burden of more school fees,” he added.
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Private universities vice-chancellors’ committee Chairman Prof Kisau Mumo said that there is a need to review fees paid by government-sponsored students admitted in private universities.
“The number of students who join private universities has increased from 6,312 in 2016/20 to 61,237 in 2020/21. Therefore, need to increase funding for private universities,” said Prof Mumo HELB CEO Charles Ringera. He also said that the government should increase the number of school fees to allow more learners to benefit.
“If the fee is increased as proposed, HELB will need additional funding to be able to support needy students,” he said.
Mr. Ringera said that the average loan allocation in this financial year is Kshs. 37,000 per year per student. This is far less as compared to Kshs. 45, 000 in the previous year.
The proposal is likely to raise heated debate among students who will feel they have not been involved in this process at all. The proposal also comes just after the COVID-19 forced the whole country to shut down all learning institutions for a while.
Parents will be hit the most as there is a feeling that the proposal has not considered the financial implications of the ongoing global pandemic.
[…] leaders argued that the proposal being pushed by vice-chancellors and supported by the National Treasury together with M… during a meeting with lawmakers on Wednesday is an insult to families. This is due to the ongoing […]