Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna has raised the alarm over skyrocketing university hostel accommodation costs, warning that the high fees are forcing students to seek accommodation in unsafe areas.
Speaking in the Senate on Thursday, July 24, Sifuna revealed that university students are being forced to abandon on-campus housing and seek shelter in slums due to unaffordable fees.
The senator criticised the reckless fee hikes by public universities, which he claimed are placing unbearable pressure on students already struggling with the soaring cost of living.
“Students are being forced into slums because they cannot afford the new hostel rates,” Sifuna noted.
Sifuna called on the Senate’s Education Committee to immediately investigate the grounds behind the fee increases, demanding transparency in how institutions are justifying the charges and whether any regulatory oversight exists.
Sifuna's concern comes at a time when universities are gearing up to welcome first-year students after the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) finalised the placements.
This year, KUCCPS placed a total of 194,372 students into degree programmes at public universities across the country, who are expected to start reporting from August.
In most public universities in the country, there is limited on-campus accommodation; most universities can only house a fraction of their student population.
For example, the University of Nairobi (UoN) has a bed capacity of around 10,000, yet serves over 47,000 students, meaning nearly 80 per cent must seek housing off-campus.
In public universities, hostels are mostly allocated through online application systems, prioritising government-sponsored students. Self-sponsored students often miss out and must seek private housing.
The cost of university hostels varies from one institution to another, but for the longest time, they were generally more affordable for students. However, that norm is changing. Recently, University of Nairobi students threatened to protest over an alleged increase in accommodation fees from Ksh 6,000 in 2021 to the current Ksh 43,000.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education has raised the alarm that most public universities in the country are grappling with financial challenges, casting doubt on their ability to deliver. Many universities are finding it increasingly difficult to pay staff and sustain higher education.
