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| Education CS Ezekiel Machogu |
The second cohort of students joining tertiary institutions this year will receive financial support under the student-centred model for higher education, just like the previous year.
In a press statement, Education CS Ezekiel Machogu disclosed that of the 201,146 candidates who qualified for university entry in the 2023 KCSE examination, 153,274 students have been placed by KUCCPS in various university degree programs.
Based on the placement results, Machogu noted that some universities have already released admission letters and fee structures for the courses listed on the KUCCPS portal during the application process.
Parents, guardians, and students are informed that the results of the funding application process will be released on July 31, 2024.
Consequently, all first-year students should report to their respective universities as per their admission letters and joining instructions.
Upon the release of funding application results, universities will notify first-year students of the amount to be paid by parents or guardians.
Machogu also directed universities and funding agencies to immediately start sensitizing students, parents, guardians, and stakeholders about the Student-Centered Funding Model.
“I direct the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) and the Universities Fund (UF) to open the Higher Education Funding portal (www.hef.co.ke) on June 15, 2024, to allow eligible students to apply for funding,” he announced.
Machogu addressed concerns from some parents and guardians who believed they would need to pay the full fees as stated in the admission letters issued by universities.
He clarified that fees for each degree program will be covered through three components: Scholarship, Loan, and Parents/Guardians (Household) contribution.
The allocation for each component will depend on each applicant’s assessed level of need.
He emphasized that the Parents/Guardians (Household) contribution for each student will only be determined after the student has applied for funding and an assessment of their level of need has been completed.
This assessment will determine the amount of Scholarship and Loan required.
For the first time since the government adopted the cost-sharing policy in higher education, 100 per cent of the 2023 KCSE examination applicants received financial support to pursue their programs of choice at the country’s universities and TVET institutions.
The government aims to emulate this success with the second cohort of students joining universities this year.
By KNA