A low application rate has prompted Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu to extend the deadline for higher education funding applications by one month.
The application portal was scheduled to close today(Thursday, September 7, 2023). Since it was opened on July 31, 2023, only 156,532 students (59 percent) had applied as of Wednesday, out of the expected 265,000.
Students enrolling in public universities and technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions now have until October 7, 2023, to submit their applications.
“The Universities Fund (UF) and the Higher Education Loans Board (Helb) have been directed to put in place measures to commence immediate and speedy processing of scholarships and bursaries for all students who have already applied. Thereafter, the agencies will ensure the processing and disbursement exercise is conducted on a continuing basis,” Machogu said in a statement.
The Education minister has also scrapped a requirement for identification documents (IDs) for underage applicants. Approximately 2,000 underage students who meet the criteria have been admitted to enroll in tertiary education.
“We encourage the students to apply for both scholarships and loans. We have noted that some are not applying for both,” said the CEO of the Universities Fund (UF), Mr Geoffrey Monari.
Monari explained that the delay in processing the applications is due to technological difficulties. The challenges primarily revolve around the validation of the data being provided during the updating process.
“…but we have observed significant improvements in processing speeds,” he said.
Once the portal is closed in a month’s time, both Helb and UF will verify the applications within 7 days. The allocation of scholarships and loans will commence the day after verification.
Scholarships and tuition-related loan funds will be sent directly to the institutions, whereas maintenance loans will be deposited into the students’ accounts.
