HELB addresses loan funding shortage ahead of September intake
HELB) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Geoffrey Monari has assured the Parliament that the board has enough funds to cover the September intake despite a funding deficit.
The Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Geoffrey Monari has assured the Parliament that the board has enough funds to cover the September intake despite a funding deficit.
Speaking when he appeared before the National Assembly Committee on Implementation on Saturday, August 9, Monari was tasked with explaining whether HELB was ready to cover the cost for students based on the new funding model.
“With the new funding model in place, what is the availability of these funds to the new students, knowing that some are placed in tiers that require them to pay quite a large amount of fees?” Kajiado East Elijah Memusi asked.
Monari told the committee that even though the allocation of the Ksh41 billion to HELB for the 2025/2026 fiscal year was not sufficient, the board was confident that the National Treasury would meet the deficit in the 1st supplementary.
In the meantime, he told the lawmakers that HELB was ready to support both new and continuing students, as the allocation had been upped from Ksh36 billion in the previous financial year.
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“We do have money to finance the students. We have a small deficit, but we have met with the National Treasury and they have assured us that it will be reviewed during the 1st supplementary,” he said.
This comes just days after the board announced that it had changed the loan disbursement structure for continuing students.
In the August 8 statement, HELB clarified that although the scholarship component had not been removed, it would be processed separately from upkeep funds.
“HELB has changed the structure of allocations; the scholarship has not been removed, it has just been separated from your upkeep and will be processed differently,” the statement read in part.
Currently, only the upkeep amount is reflected in students’ accounts.
In the new funding model, the upkeep funds will be allocated based on a band structure, representing the total for the academic year and will be paid out in two equal instalments, one for each semester.
Band 1 students will receive Ksh60,000 for the year, disbursed as Ksh30,000 per semester; band 2 students will get Ksh55,000 in total, with Ksh27,500 per semester; and band 3 will receive Ksh50,000 in two disbursements of Ksh25,000 each.
Band 4 students will get Ksh45,000, receiving Ksh22,500 per semester, and finally, Band 5 students will receive Ksh40,000, disbursed as Ksh20,000 per semester.
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