Senators are pushing to have the government reduce high accommodation fees across public universities, with some charging as high as Sh40,000 a semester.
The development follows a sudden increase in hostel fees over the past four years. The lawmakers now want the Ministry of Education to explain the rationale behind the increase, especially in light of the prevailing economic hardship and the need to ensure affordability and safety for all students. Public universities have traditionally offered affordable rates to students, particularly those from low-income backgrounds.
However, in recent years, the cost of on-campus accommodation has risen significantly, placing a heavy financial burden on students and their families. Raising the alarm, Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna complained that the hiked accommodation fees have forced most students to seek cheaper, often unsafe, off-campus alternatives. This, he argued, has put female students, in particular, at heightened risk in insecure neighbourhoods. “This situation undermines not only the right to education, but also the right to dignity and safety for learners,” Mr Sifuna said.
West Pokot Senator Julius Murgor questioned the sudden change, saying the hike will lead to untold suffering, especially for students from low-income households. He said students from poor backgrounds could have to drop out of university.
West Pokot Senator Julius Murgor.
Photo credit: Jared Nyataya | Nation Media Group
“This increase in accommodation fees means that children from well-to-do families and those of the people who can pay will be the ones to be housed in those hostels. Children of poor people, the commoners, will not be accommodated in the hostels in our universities.”
Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei lamented that some universities charge as high as Sh40,000 per semester, yet their hostels are in deplorable conditions, and nothing is being done to change the situation. “Can you believe that you will still find bedbugs in most of our universities? Even slums look better than most of the hostels we are seeing in most of these universities,” he said, appealing to the government to include hostels in the affordable housing programme, to make life bearable for students.
Student hostels at Chuka University.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
For his part, Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale said there is a need to relook at the university funding model, arguing that whereas the old model allowed parents to pay a small fee, they cannot afford the current increment, even with the government covering most of the costs.
“I have been pursuing this disaster, and I have found that faculties have increased school fees by as high as 138 percent in some faculties. The net effect is the high cost of university education,” said the Senate Majority Whip.
“We have to look at it critically and ask ourselves if we want this to be a country of people who come from the wash-wash background or a country that will have young professionals with good education," he added.
The Senate Education committee has been tasked to have the Ministry of Education provide details on the current state of infrastructure in university hostels, including the level of repair and maintenance of existing accommodation facilities.
This is in addition to an analysis of the current student populations compared to the available on-campus accommodation spaces and the plans, if any, that exist to expand and upgrade student housing in public universities.
"We want to know whether the Higher Education Loans Board intends to revise or enhance student loan disbursements to better support students in meeting essential needs, such as accommodation, food and transportation, given the increases," said Senator Sifuna.
Weighing in on the issue, Kisii Senator Richard Onyonka proposed that the current regime construct hostels and provide accommodation facilities to students instead of affordable housing units.
He argued that instead of the government building affordable housing units in places they might never be inhabited, the focus should be building hostels in all public universities in the country.
“If you do these hostels, we know the rent is not going to be more than Sh5,000 per month. These hostels will pay themselves because the parents are already paying, anyway," said Mr Onyonka.
"Why are we building houses in places with trees and cows and no people, places such as Nyandarua? Can we, please, build hostels for our universities and even our secondary schools because the government can recover the money?” he posed.
