Education CS Julius Ogamba appears before the Education Committee on the proposed Tertiary Education Placement and Funding Bill at Bunge Towers on August 5, 2026. /DOUGLAS OKIDDY
The government has unveiled plans to overhaul university and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) funding by abolishing scholarships and replacing them with a single financing model in which all eligible students receive 100 per cent funding through repayable loans.
The proposal, contained in the Tertiary Education Placement and Funding Bill, seeks to replace the current Student-Centred Funding Model (SCFM), which was introduced in May 2023 to allocate scholarships and loans based on a student's level of financial need.
Under the existing model, students are assessed using a Needs Assessment Tool (NAT) before being placed into funding bands.
The Universities Fund then provides scholarships covering between 30 and 70 per cent of tuition costs, while the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) finances the remaining fees and offers upkeep loans.
However, the Ministry of Education now wants to merge all tertiary education financing into a single fund that will provide students with full funding exclusively in the form of loans.
Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba told the National Assembly Committee on Education that the proposed law would establish a single funding authority by consolidating existing financing institutions and creating a centralised database for all beneficiaries.
"We are revamping the legal framework to create a single funding authority, consolidating funding avenues and improve data management by creating a centralised database," Ogamba said.
He added that the new authority would have a broader and more sustainable funding base, drawing resources from non-traditional financing mechanisms such as education bonds and capital markets.
The fund would also receive concessional loans from development partners, alongside money currently allocated to HELB, the Universities Fund and TVET scholarship programmes.
If Parliament approves the Bill, every student admitted to a public university or TVET institution would be eligible for full funding through repayable loans.
Under the proposal, beneficiaries would begin repaying their loans one year after securing employment.
Graduates would also be required to notify their employers of their loan obligations to facilitate deductions directly from their salaries.
Those working in the informal sector would instead negotiate repayment plans with the new authority.
The Bill also proposes a significant increase in the repayment ceiling. Loan deductions would be capped at no more than 25 per cent of a beneficiary's earnings, compared with the current four per cent.
HELB chief executive officer Geoffrey Monari said the reforms would also introduce an education savings scheme to allow parents to set aside money for their children's higher education before they join university.
"We will have a savings scheme where the parents can save funds for their students when they go to the university," Monari said.
The proposed law further gives the new funding authority powers to pursue legal action against persistent loan defaulters to recover outstanding balances.
Unlike the current system, however, graduates who temporarily stop repaying because they are unemployed would not be penalised.
Instead, any repayment gaps or shortfalls would simply be added to the end of the loan period without attracting default charges.
