First year university and TVET students will have their funding applications processed under the existing Student-Centred Funding Model, as the government awaits Parliament’s approval of a proposed new funding framework, Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba has said.
The Education CS, through a statement, said transition to the proposed Universal Access and Funding Framework will be implemented once Parliament passes the Tertiary Education Placement and Funding Bill, 2026.
“For the avoidance of doubt, it is notified for the general information of the public that applications for funding for first time applicants will be considered and processed in accordance with the current Student-Centred Funding Model,” Ogamba said.
The clarification comes after President William Ruto recently announced that the higher education funding proposal was already before Parliament and urged lawmakers to fast track its approval ahead of the September university intake. This now appears impossible since the students have already reported to campuses.
Speaking to the Daily Nation on Thursday, Mr Ogamba said funding for first-time university students and TVET trainees is currently being processed and will be released once the process is complete.
“It’s being processed now. It will be released once it’s ready… a few more days,” Ogamba said.
He added that appropriate transitional mechanisms to the Universal Access and Funding Framework would be implemented once the Bill is passed.
Initial application deadline
The clarification provides relief for thousands of students joining universities and TVET institutions for the first time amid uncertainty over the funding system applicable to them.
The initial application window for tertiary education funding closed on August 31, with the Ministry reporting that it had received 789,422 applications from eligible university students and TVET trainees.
However, the government has now extended the application period to September 21, 2026, after recognising that some eligible students and trainees had failed to apply within the initial deadline.
Mr Ogamba directed the Universities Fund and the Higher Education Loans Board (Helb) to extend the application window to allow all eligible first-time applicants to submit their applications.
“All eligible first time applicants in universities and TVETs are invited to promptly apply for funding within this extended window,” the CS said.
He also announced that the government has disbursed Sh22.12 billion in first-semester or term funding to continuing university students and TVET trainees.
Proposals for the Universal Access and Funding Framework, presented by Higher Education Loans Board (Helb) Chief Executive Officer Geoffrey Monari before the National Assembly Education Committee, seek to transform Helb into a development bank backed by the government to finance universities and colleges across the country.
Under the Bill, the Helb, the Universities Fund (UF), and the Technical and Vocational Education and Training Funding Board (TVETFB) would be dissolved and replaced by a single institution known as the Tertiary Education Funding Authority (TEFA).
The proposed funding model aims to raise Sh100 billion annually from the government, investors, parents, graduates, and development partners.
The funds would be used to issue education bonds backed by a ring-fenced annual allocation of Sh100 billion, alongside a sinking fund to service interest payments and repay the principal.
“We will use the bond programme to go to the commercial sector and we will be paying coupons every quarter, the first requirement and simulation we did was that we will require an additional Sh80 million which then we’ll be paying coupons every six months of Sh5 billion which makes it affordable from the government... so this money is not coming from the exchequer, Sh100 billion,” Mr Monari told the committee.
