CS Machogu unveils new portal for student loans, scholarships

By Peter Ochieng

Cabinet Secretary (CS) for Education Ezekiel Machogu is a man on the move.

On Monday, the CS unveiled a new portal for the new funding model, for higher education applicants.

The move, announced by President William Ruto months ago seeks to benefit students joining Universities and Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) institutions, across the country.

Machogu, speaking during release of the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) selection results, said that the Higher Education Financing (HEF) portal will allow students to make applications for both scholarships, loans and bursaries.

Under the new financing model, the level of funding for each student will depend on the monthly household income.

Students in need of funding must make a formal application, through www.hef.co.ke.

"Out of the 2022 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) cohort, over 45,000 university students and 42,000 TVET students categorised as vulnerable and extremely needy, will be fully funded by the government," said the CS.

"140,107 were placed in university programmes as 130,484 were placed in public universities and 9,622 to private universities."

"144,500 were placed in TVETs and 560 in secondary teacher training colleges. 9,673 who qualified for degree courses opted to be placed in TVET institutions," he added.

Continuing students will not be affected by the funding model, and will continue to receive their funding based on the previous funding model.