Degrees of debt: Ruto's new varsity funding plan to drown students in debts

Kenya's higher education system is on the brink of a significant transformation as the government proposes to eliminate undergraduate scholarships. Instead, funds previously allocated for scholarships will be redirected to a student loan program, a move that could saddle hundreds of thousands of students with substantial debt upon graduation.

This radical policy shift, detailed in documents submitted by the Ministry of Education to the National Assembly's Education Committee, is expected to affect over 200,000 students slated to join universities in September. The government's plan effectively transfers the financial responsibility for higher education from the state to the students themselves.

Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba, along with Principal Secretaries Beatrice Inyangala and Esther Muoria, appeared before the National Assembly’s Public Investments Committee on Governance and Education to discuss the proposal. The documents reveal a clear intention to abandon the scholarship component of university funding, channeling those resources into student loans.

Critics argue that this change will place an immense financial burden on students, potentially forcing them to accrue millions of shillings in debt by the time they complete their studies. The move marks a departure from the existing system, which has provided scholarships as a crucial component of university funding.