Thousands of continuing students in public universities will this week breathe a sigh of relief after the Universities Fund announced it will disburse Sh4.2 billion in scholarship funds across the country.
Universities Fund Acting Chief Executive Officer Dr Edwin Wanyonyi said the government will release the funds to support continuing students enrolled under the Student-Centred Funding Model (SCFM).
Dr Wanyonyi said the disbursement, which forms part of allocations under the 2025/2026 financial year, will benefit students pursuing various programmes in public universities.
“In the 2025/2026 financial year, the Universities Fund has already disbursed Sh8.4 billion in scholarship support,” he said.
Introduced in 2023, the Student-Centred Funding Model is one of the most significant reforms in Kenya’s higher education financing system.
Unlike previous models where funds were allocated directly to institutions, the new system ensures that funding follows the student, with support determined by the learner’s level of financial need.
So far, 437,648 students have benefited from Universities Fund scholarships under the model, with more than Sh46.4 billion disbursed to support undergraduate education.
The first cohort of students under the new funding model, who enrolled in the 2023/2024 academic year, is expected to graduate next year.
In recent years, Kenya’s higher education sector has recorded significant growth, with the country now having 83 universities serving thousands of students nationwide.
The number of students qualifying for university admission has also risen sharply, from 62,581 in 2017 to 270,715 in 2025, representing a 332 percent increase.
However, the growing demand for university education has created a funding gap, highlighting the need for sustained investment in higher education financing.
“To qualify for government scholarships, students must be placed in a public university by the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS), have sat the KCSE examination in 2022 or later, and formally apply through the Higher Education Financing (HEF) portal,” Dr Wanyonyi said.
Students who sat the 2025 KCSE examination and attained the minimum university entry grade will also be required to apply for scholarships through the portal.
The disbursement comes shortly after a technical workshop that brought together registrars and finance officers from public universities to strengthen institutional capacity in scholarship management, reporting and reconciliation of funds under the Student-Centred Funding Model.
During the workshop, participants received guidance on the Universities Fund Institutional Portal, a digital platform that enables universities to submit, validate and reconcile student data efficiently.
“When institutional data are accurate, funding decisions become more efficient, reconciliation becomes easier and transparency is strengthened,” he said.
However, he warned that incomplete or inconsistent data can lead to delays, discrepancies and weakened accountability.
Through the Institutional Portal, universities can submit scholarship data more efficiently, identify errors early and monitor allocations and disbursements in real time.
Dr Wanyonyi said the workshop also focused on strengthening reconciliation processes, improving compliance and enhancing audit preparedness in scholarship management.
“As we strengthen these systems, we must also look ahead. In the coming years, Kenya’s universities will receive the first cohort of learners transitioning from the Competency-Based Education system,” he said.
Dr Wanyonyi said these learners will arrive with new expectations and ambitions, and the higher education system must be ready academically, administratively and financially.
