The Ministry of Education has announced that the 2023 KCSE cohort will get to know the exact amount their parents will pay in fees before admissions in September.
Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu on Friday
announced that the results of the funding application process will be released on July 31, 2024.
This comes just days after the National Assembly Committee on Education instructed the ministry to send out university admission calling letters with exact fee figures.
Initially, when the Student Centred Funding Model was introduced, the calling letters quoted huge figures.
Machogu noted that fees for higher learning are paid in three components; scholarships and loans which the government provides, and household contributions paid by the parents.
The MPs wanted all admission letters to exclude the amount paid by the government so as not to intimidate parents.
Machogu said the ministry will open its Higher Education Funding portal on June 15 to allow 2023 KCSE cohort students to apply for funding ahead of varsity admissions in September.
" 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 the eligible students to apply for funding," Machogu said.
"The funding allocation for each component will depend on the assessed level of need of each applicant," Machogu said.
He said all First-Year students will report to their respective universities based on their admission letters and joining instructions as advised.
Machogu said once the results of the funding applications are released, Universities shall notify
all their respective First-Year students of the amount to be paid by Parents (Household).
Machogu directed that universities and funding agencies should immediately embark on sensitisation of students, parents/guardians and stakeholders on the Student-Centred Funding Model.
The CS said some parents have a perception that they will be required to pay the full fees as contained in the admission letters issued by individual universities.
The Student-Centred Funding Model was introduced in May 2023 and implemented in September of the same year.
This year, the second cohort of students joining Universities under the new funding model will also receive financial support.
Machogu noted 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 degree programmes in Universities.