95,000 University and college students will be forced to look for an alternative source of school fee after the government reveals to cut off HELB loans for students.
According to Higher Education Loans Board (Helb), Covid-19 pandemic drained its funds, forcing it to cut down the number of students who will benefit from this programme.
The 95,000 students include 65,000 university and another 30,000 in technical colleges.
Charles Ringera who is Helb CEO said on Tuesday the reduction in number of students benefiting from HELB, students from low-income families will probably drop out and others defer studies.
“We are worried how we are going to manage the situation, but that is the way it is,” Ringera said.
“There are no revenues flowing into the country, people are unemployed so they cannot repay their loans, so we have to deal with what we have,” he said.
Reduction of number of students who will receive HELB is attributed to budgetary cuts and non-performing loans.
HELB Chief Executive Officer Charles Ringera revealed that most of the non-performing loans are from unemployed Kenyans or those who lost their jobs, after the COVID-19 pandemic brought the country’s economy to its knee.
Over 450,000 students both in TVET and Universities will receive loan at a total cost of about Sh12.8 billion.
The students who will benefit from the loan facility will get an average of Sh38,000, down from Sh45,000.
For the TVET students, they will get their average of Sh40,000.