Education stakeholders led by Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu and his Principal Secretary Beatrice Inyangala on Thursday, May 4, explained the funding criteria that will be used based on the model President William Ruto unveiled on May 3.
Ministry officials gave a detailed breakdown of the formula while appearing before the National Assembly's Public Investments Committee on Governance and Education to discuss university funding.
“The means testing instrument is very broad. It has 8 variables which have been used over the years and it is being strengthened, linked to other databases so that the results are more valid and reliable,” noted Inyangala.
The means testing will include: parent background, gender, course type, previous school type, expenditure on education, family size and composition, marginalization, and disability.
Additionally, the PS noted that funding for university courses will be based on 4 criteria which are: performance and choice of programme, household income bands, affirmative action, and government priority areas.
Furthermore, vulnerable students will get more in terms of scholarships and less money in loans while able students will get more loans and less scholarship.
CS Machogu noted that students who get slots in public universities and then opt for private universities will lose their funding.
The government will provide 59% scholarships, 34% loan 34%, and the student pays only 7%.
Vulnerable students such as orphans and those who earn less than Ksh23,000 will get full government scholarship.
“In the coming financial year 2023/2024, an extra Ksh31.6 billion will be injected into the university sector to support these students and help univeristies become more sustainable, the PS told the Jack Wamboka-led committee.
On May 3, President William Ruto unveiled a new funding model for public university education after receiving recommendations from the Education task-force led by Prof Raphael Munavu at State House, Nairobi.
"Universities and TVETS will no longer receive block funding in the form of capitation based on a Differentiated Unit Cost. Funding to students shall combine scholarships, loans and household contributions on a graduated scale," Ruto stated.
