Address resistance to varsities’ funding plan
Funding higher education, including paying lecturers and support staff, sponsoring students, and providing facilities, has become a perennial national headache. The crisis has reached a critical stage, with universities carrying total debts of Sh100 billion. These challenges strain operations in institutions expected to train high-calibre manpower for national development.
A Sh20 billion government deal recently ended a four-week lecturers’ strike that disrupted learning in public universities. But the student funding dilemma persists, and the government intends to convert scholarships into loans and make students fully liable. However, the proposal has met severe resistance. The Universities Fund faces a Sh16.26 billion shortfall for student scholarships in the 2026/2027 financial year. Only Sh31.1 billion has been received. Under the Tertiary Education, Placement and Funding Bill, 2026, the government plans to scrap scholarships and introduce 100 per cent loans.
Critics have warned against removing safety nets for vulnerable households and forcing students from poor families to graduate with hefty debt burdens. President William Ruto’s administration introduced a student funding model touted as the answer to the crisis, but it flopped. It divided students into categories of vulnerability. Then came another model, guaranteeing 100 per cent funding to any student in a public college or university regardless of family background. Lack of clarity, the fate of continuing students, and the restriction of the fund to a loan have raised queries, even as the Tertiary Education, Placement and Funding Bill, 2026, undergoes public participation led by the National Assembly’s Education Committee.
Critics fear this will increase the burden for students from poor families. Stakeholders also oppose repaying loans a year after completing studies. Stakeholders are demanding a distinction between completion and gainful employment and have proposed a grace period for unemployment and underemployment.
The higher education funding crisis and related problems must be resolved.
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