Private varsities claim Sh31 billion from State

Private varsities claim Sh31 billion from State

Private varsities claim Sh31 billion from State

Over 68,000 state-sponsored students’ futures are at jeopardy due to a decline in government support for private universities.The Kenya Association of Private Universities (KAPU) has written to Ezekiel Machogu, the cabinet secretary for education, over a Sh31 billion payment that they assert has not yet been made.

In the letter, KAPU claimed that only 10% of the necessary tuition costs for the 2024–2025 fiscal year have been allotted by the government.They said that this had an impact on the quality of education provided to pupils enrolling in private colleges.According to the private colleges, the funds are the result of accumulated prorated payments from prior years.

Prof. Washington Okeyo, the treasurer of KAPU, remarked, “This is very low since many programs are very costly and private universities are struggling to educate Government sponsored students.”According to Prof. Okeyo’s letter, private universities will only receive Sh1,774,791,604 for the 2024–2025 fiscal year to finance government-sponsored students.

According to KAPU, the amount represents only 10.12 per cent of the student’s tuition fees.Initially, the government was supposed to pay up to, 80 per cent of the students’ fees under a now-defunct funding model known as Differentiated Unit Cost.

“This is at the rate of DUC of 10.1 per cent; This is very low since many programs are very costly and Private universities are struggling to educate government-sponsored students.”

This dramatic reduction comes after private universities were excluded from enrolling any new state-sponsored students last year. Now, KAPU says that even those already enrolled face an uncertain future, burdened with the prospect of shouldering the majority of their education costs.

This financial burden, coupled with the slashed funding, threatens to push these institutions to the brink of collapse, jeopardizing the education of thousands of State-sponsored students in private universities.The KAPU letter, dated February 21, seeks intervention of Machogu to increase the allocation to at least 30 per cent of the student fees.

“We shall appreciate your intervention on this matter for the sake of the Kenyan students studying in Private universities,” says the letter to the CS.

Students and institutions are in a state of tense uncertainty as a result of the government’s response, which is still unclear.The program currently teeters on uncertainty, putting students, universities, and the future of education in Kenya in jeopardy because there is no apparent solution in sight.President Uhuru Kenyatta gave the Education Ministry the order to start placing students at private universities in 2016.

According to a document submitted to Parliament, the administration sent over 88,000 state-sponsored students to private universities over the course of the six years. 10,984 students were admitted by the colleges in 2016, 17,363 in 2017, 12,656 in 2018, 17,511) in 2019, (27,756) in 2020, and [12,000] in 2021.According to The Standard, there are now only 68,966 State-sponsored students attending private universities.

Private school students are no longer qualified for government scholarships due to  changes made to the funding scheme last year, but they are still able to obtain  student loans to help pay for their education. The schools saw a drop in enrolment last year as a result of the funding model  change, with almost 9,000 students opting to enroll in private universities.