The process of admission of last year’s 880,000 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) students to university has hit a snag.
According to reports, the uncertainty over the amount of money that is available to sponsor students in public institutions might delay the selection process.
The higher-ups are looking at whether they should raise university cut-off points or increase tuition fees.
On the other hand, university administrators are concerned that a continued delay of courses might affect their learning timetables.
Parents are also anxious over the fake placement posters and messages that indicated that the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) portal has been opened so that their children can apply for or revise the courses they had selected in the first revision.
Vice-chancellors and college principals have also expressed concerns saying that the delay could turn out to be costly.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet Secretary for Education Ezekiel Machogu is expected to open the first Biennial Kenya Universities Funding Conference under the theme Universities for Sustainable Future.
The meeting is expected to host top officials from the ministry and industry players.
The KUCCPS Chief Executive Officer (CEO) said that they need about two and half months to complete this process for students to make choices.
During the release of the 2022 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) results, CS Machogu urged KUCCPS to launch the placement process as soon as possible.
KUCCPS has already received last year’s results from the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) and the universities’ and colleges’ capacities have since been validated by regulators.
According to reports, the Head of State took some time to deliberate on the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms’ (PWPER) recommendations that university fees be increased from the current Kes. 16,000.
If all the qualified students want to pursue admission to the university, a recent study done by The Standard reveals that the government will need at least Kes. 30 billion.
For every university student, the government usually allocates Kes. 140,000 per academic year to cover tuition. This is roughly Kes. 24.3 billion per year for 173,345 students.
The Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) Chief Executive Officer Charles Ringera told the National Assembly last week that the agency has a funding shortfall of Kes. 5.7 billion which could affect more than 140,000 learners.
This means that if the one hundred per cent transition policy is executed, more funds will be required to support 672,841 students who scored grades C and D.
In Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) students are allocated, Kes. 30,000 each every year as capital. There is also upkeep money sent to students bringing the total amount that HELB requires to around Kes. 40,000 per year.
On average the TVET fee is around Kes. 56,000. Yesterday, Ringera said that HELB cannot provide any data on funding projections saying that “things will be clearer after the task force hand in their final report”.