By Roy Hezron
The Economic Survey 2022 report by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics(KNBS) indicated that the number of needy university students who required government funding for their university education through the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) dropped by 3.2 per cent in the 2020-2021 academic year.
The survey further indicates that the number of HELB loan applicants declined to 376,100 in the 2020/21 academic year mainly due to a decline in the number of loan applicants from Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) institutions.
The report indicates that while the total loan applicants from public universities increased from 215,400 in 2019/20 to 217,400 in 2020/21 academic year, the total number of loan beneficiaries in the same academic year went down by 2.2 per cent from 349,200 in 2019/20 to 341,600 in 2020/21.
The loans awarded to successful loan applicants as per the report decreased by 6.6 per cent from Sh15.2 billion in 2019/20 to Sh14.2 billion in 2020/21.
HELB Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Charles Ringera previously raised concerns that the board had been faced with funding challenges due to inadequate funding from the exchequer, the National Treasury.
More than 75,000 students who joined universities in September last year received their loans in March this year. The delay in the disbursement was occasioned by the cash flow challenges at HELB.
The agency said it required Sh3 billion from Treasury to process loan applications for the university and college students.
The majority of loan applicants come from poor households and require financial support from HELB to pay for their tuition and upkeep hence delay in the disbursement of the said funds causes untold suffering to students.
Furthermore, for admission into first year, most universities require full payment of a semester’s fees to admit students and delay in disbursement, therefore, forced some first year students to postpone their studies or find alternative means of paying for their tuition, accommodation and upkeep as they wait for the government funding.
The Economic Survey 2022 further shows that the number of male loan applicants from public universities rose by2.5 per cent to 131,500 in 2020/21, in contrast to the number of female applicants which recorded a decrease of 1.3 per cent to stand at 86,000 over the same period.
Furthermore, the total number of loan beneficiaries from public universities recorded a decline of 6.3 per cent to 198,200 in 2020/21, with the number of males’ and females’ beneficiaries decreasing by 4.7 per cent and 8.7 per cent, respectively.
The amount of loans awarded to applicants from public universities went down by 9.4 per cent to Sh8.6 billion in 2020/21 with 91.1 per cent of all applicants from public universities being awarded loans in the 2020/21 academic year.
Private universities, TVET
The report indicates that the total number of loan applicants from private universities recorded a growth of 15.0 per cent from 38, 241 in 2019/20 to 43,960 in 2020/21; while the number of female loan applicants rose by 19.8 per cent compared to that of male counterparts at 11.7 per cent in 2020/21.
The report attributes the growth to placement of more students pursuing degree courses by the Government in private universities, since the number of loan beneficiaries from private universities increased by 5.8 per cent to 37,599 in 2020/21.
85.5 per cent of all loan applicants from private universities were awarded loans though the amount of loans awarded to loan applicants from private universities declined from Sh1.7billion in 2019/20 to Sh1.6 billion in 2020/21.
The report indicates that the total number of TVET students loan applicants declined by 15.0 per cent from 135,046 in 2019/20 to 114,737 in 2020/21. The number of student loan beneficiaries increased by 3.6 per cent from 102,100 in 2019/20 to 105,800 in 2020/21 while the total amount of loans awarded to students decreased by 2.5 per cent to Sh4.0 billion in the review period.
Decline in HELB Bursaries
According to the Survey report, there were no bursary applicants from universities and TVET institutions during the year under review.
However, the total number of applicants awarded bursaries was 39,055 in 2020/21 down from 40,235 in 2019/20.
The total amount of bursaries awarded declined by 0.6 per cent to Sh237.1 million in 2020/21, while the number of applicants from public universities awarded bursaries declined by 13.4 per cent to 15,804 in 2020/21. Similarly, the amount awarded decreased by 7.9 per cent to Sh114.5 million in the review period.
The report reveals further that the total applicants awarded bursaries from private universities grew by 12.6 per cent with the amount awarded rising by 22.2 per cent to Sh22.6 million in 2020/21.
In TVETs, the total number of applicants awarded bursaries increased by 4.7 per cent to 20,066 in 2020/21, with the amount of bursary awarded rising by 4.5 per cent to Sh100.0 million which was mainly on account of a 16.5 per cent increase in the amount awarded to female students in the review period.
Amount of bursary awarded to male students in TVET institutions declined by 2.8 per cent to Sh58.4 million in 2020/21.
Penalty waiver to boost Loan Repayment
Despite Government capitation growing from Sh8.2 billion in 2019/20 to Sh11.0 billion in 2020/21, the loan repayments declined by 2.2 per cent to Sh4.3 billion in the review period while in 2020/21 the total amount of student loans and bursaries awarded decreased by 6.5 per cent to Sh14.4 billion.
The latest data from HELB shows loan accounts in default increased from the 106,443 recorded in December 2020, with unpaid loans standing at Sh10.9 billion.
According to HELB reports, the unpaid loans have grown from Sh6.7 billion in June 2020 when the count of defaulters stood at 68,882.
The 100 percent penalty waiver dubbed Kamilisha Malipo Ya HELB, which has been extended for further two months from April this year to June this year, seeks to encourage those who have not started repaying to do so.
The waiver was initially scheduled to run from 1st March 2022 to 30th April 2022.
A similar campaign run by the agency in 2013 saw some 10,110 beneficiaries pay off their loans valued at Sh1.3 billion while in 2018 the penalty waiver campaign saw 9,998 beneficiaries pay Sh870 million to the agency.
