University Fees Is Set To Increase As Government Stops Funding

Kenyans will have to dig deeper into their pockets to pay for their education or that of their children at a public university if the announcement by Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu that government sponsorship will end comes to pass.

The government funds all public universities, despite students paying fees to enable these institutions smoothly run their operations. The funding helps to reduce the burden on the students through fee payment as it is always subsidized.

Education CS asked those institutions to find better ways of generating their revenue in a bid to find their operations. When such a move is implemented, the effects go down to the learner seeking knowledge in these institutions of higher learning.

In this regard fees paid will be increased to enable the universities to run their operations, especially academic programs. Unless the government through higher loans board now increases the amount disbursed to students, there will be numerous cases of university students seeking deferment.

Such a decision has been long in coming as funding to public universities has declined over the last five years, with the shortfall rising from Sh7.8 billion in 2018/2019 to a massive Sh28 billion in the current financial year.

This has left many universities struggling to survive as they owe various suppliers and lecturers billions of shillings. This is going to be a major blow to many Universities considering many of them are struggling to get enough funds for their staff members.

If this issue will be implemented then some universities might be forced to sack some employees and this, in turn, will affect our economy.

There are also stalled projects worth billions of shillings on various campuses across the country. Other problems have been poor conditions of students’ hostels, unequipped libraries, and inadequate lecture rooms.

“The govt will no longer fund public universities and colleges but instead they should look for ways to generate their own-sourced revenue to fund their operations,” he said.