The Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) has issued a deadline for loan applications for first-year students in the Kenya Institute of Mass Communication (KIMC) and the Kenya School of Law for the 2020/21 period.
In a statement, HELB stated that students of the mentioned institutions should submit their requests by February 14, 2021.
“KIMC, in conjunction with HELB, invites applications for first time 2020-2021 KIMC Training Revolving Fund Loan. The application is free," reads the statement.
The board warned students against providing false information saying that they would be penalised in accordance with the HELB Act.
According to the HELB website, there are two types of loan application; Applications for first-time applicants and subsequent applicants as per the program duration.
The number of loans one is eligible for depends on the program duration, i.e. one is given a loan 4 times for a 4-year program.
The loan awarded ranges from a minimum of Ksh.40,000 and a maximum of Ksh.60,000.
In December 2020, Kenyans.co.ke reported that HELB had slashed the average loan offered to university students by Ksh 8,000.
HELB CEO Charles Ringera, at the time, said that they had reduced the loans from Ksh 45,000 to Ksh 37,000 due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
He added that graduates had defaulted on their loans after many of the beneficiaries were rendered jobless.
"Covid-19 has negatively impacted household incomes. Ordinarily, 80 percent of students admitted to universities would apply for HELB support but this year out of the 122,000 students placed in universities, the applications now stand at 155,000," he stated.
