Wealthy Families To Pay More For Their Children In Kenyan Universities

Wealthy families will now be expected to pay more university fees  for their children’s education in public universities in the latest push to ease a biting cash crunch in the institutions and reduce  dependency on the Treasury.

The University Funding Board (UFB)—the State agency responsible for allocations of student funds to universities is pushing for the reduction on government funding for children of the rich at universities.

The modification will also affect government-sponsored students in private universities who receive at least Sh70, 000 yearly depending on the course they are pursuing irrespective of their income status.

The national government is looking forward to pay 80 percent of the cost of degrees per student under the ongoing funding model, with the learners in public universities paying about Sh28,000 annually.

The funding board, with the cooperation of the Treasury and university vice-chancellors, wants the allocations reviewed to reflect the students’ income status.

Public universities have come under financial pressure in recent years as a result of rapid expansion amid lower State funding and a heavy fall in enrolment on self-sponsored programs after the government opted to fully fund students scoring the minimum C+ entry grade and above in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams.

Students enrolling for the parallel degree courses had over the years generated billions of shillings for the institutions as they pay the full cost of programs that top over Sh600,000 annually for those like medicine.

Currently UFB and vice-chancellors expects students from wealthy families to pay the full or a larger share of the cost of degrees,  with next year’s intake just to begin with.

“This policy brief recommends a gradual introduction of targeted free tuition to shift the burden of higher education funding to only needy and bright students,” UFB says.

“Evidence has shown that a number of households in Kenya, especially those in the middle and upper income quotients, may not require any financial support to put their children through university education.”

The State will have students examined by the Higher Education Loans Board (Helb) when disbursing funds, with the rich locked out.

Intellectuals quote scenarios where parents pay Sh175, 000 annually for a pupils in Kabarak Primary School, and over Sh200,000 in the institution’s secondary schools and less than Sh50,000 at their university section under government sponsorship.

Kenya will take after Uganda, which is seeking to bar children of the rich from getting government funding for degrees in public universities.

State support per student has dropped from 80 percent of the cost of degree to the current 48 percent on the back of increased enrolment. The drop reduced the flow of State funds to the troubled public universities, forcing some of the institutions to scrap courses, shut down campuses as well as resort to pay cuts and hiring freezes.

The funding board estimates that the funding gap for government-sponsored students in public universities will hit Sh96.27 billion in the year ending next June, from the current Sh27 billion.

In the 2020/21 financial year, Sh87.317 billion was required to fully fund the 434,631 government-sponsored students at the universities but the Treasury only released Sh47.39 billion, leaving the universities with a hole of Sh39.91 billion.

UFB says that Sh20.1 billion is needed to fully finance students who sat their KCSE exam last year and a further Sh30.68 billion will be required to pay for those writing their national examinations next month.

The Treasury in May rejected requests for additional funding to the institutions, with University of Nairobi demanding an extra Sh13.8 billion. Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani asked the universities to review the State funding of the students, put a freeze on hiring and raise the out-of-pocket fees paid by the learners.

“Review university fees and charges paid by students…and the Differentiated Unit Cost a criterion which is used to determine the funding allocated to universities,” Mr Yatani said. The vice-chancellors have revived the petition to increase tuition fees in public universities in their latest efforts to keep the institutions afloat.

A memo from the Education ministry reveals the push by the top university administrators for the upward review of fees in the next intake.