HELB disbursements to begin August 15 after Sh5 billion funding boost
Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Migos Ogamba said the move is aimed at ensuring that all eligible students receive financial support and that no one is locked out of learning due to lack of fees.
University and college students have received a major boost after the government increased funding for higher education, raising the annual allocation to the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) from Sh36 billion to Sh41 billion for the 2025/2026 academic year.
Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Migos Ogamba said the move is aimed at ensuring that all eligible students receive financial support and that no one is locked out of learning due to a lack of fees.
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“To ensure no student is left behind, the Government has increased HELB’s annual funding from Sh36 billion to Sh41 billion, a significant boost of Sh5 billion. Of this, Sh13 billion has already been released to support tuition and upkeep for students, while Sh16.9 billion has been allocated to the Universities Fund for Scholarships,” Ogamba said in a statement issued on Thursday.
He confirmed that both HELB and the Universities Fund have already received the resources necessary to begin disbursing money to students and institutions.
According to the CS, disbursement of HELB loans for first-year university students will begin on August 15, 2025, to coincide with the reopening of universities. The Universities Fund, he added, has already begun releasing the first-quarter scholarship funds to public universities.
“These funds will be released in phases to ensure a smooth transition into University/TVET College and to help students settle into their academic journey without interruption,” he said.
By the end of July, the Ministry of Education had received applications from 129,403 university students and 60,976 TVET trainees under the Student-Centred Funding Model (SCFM).
CS Ogamba encouraged all qualified students who have not yet applied for funding to do so before the deadline of August 31, 2025.
For the 2025/2026 academic year, HELB and the Universities Fund aim to support 201,695 first-year university students, over 237,000 trainees in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions, and 257,523 continuing students.
The applications received so far represent 64 per cent of the targeted university intake and 51 per cent of the expected September TVET enrollment.
“Processing of the already received applications is ongoing to ensure timely funds disbursement to students and institutions of higher learning,” the CS added.
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