HELB CEO Clarifies how Loans will be Disbursed
Charles Ringera HELB CEO has defended the government’s position in disbursing the loans and scholarships only to public university students, stating that the disbursement will be carried out on a ‘need basis.’
This is after the National Association of Private Universities in Kenya Secretary General Vincent Gaitho called out the government, citing unfairness to students who may want to join private universities.
The General Secretary said the move was based on a notion that private schools are meant solely for the ‘rich’ which is untrue since private universities accommodate students from all backgrounds.
He said that the students should be given the freedom to go to universities of their choice without discriminating against those in private institutions by denying them scholarship.
Speaking in a Twitter Space on Tuesday, Ringera defended the new funding model terming it a ‘student-centred model.’
He said the new modelnew model allowed students to make informed choices based on money, proximity to the university, and costs of the course of study.
Ringera said that there is full disclosure of the actual cost of programscost of programs, therefore the student makes an informed choice.
He further explained the Means Testing Instrument MTI criteria which HELB will use to group students into the four funding categories; vulnerable, extremely needy, less needy and needy.
Charles stated that MTI uses some key parameters to determine the ‘need level’ of students.
According to the Loan Board boss, the scorecard considers several aspects from the guardian or parent’s background, gender, family size and composition, socio-economic status, disability status of the loanee, the course one is taking and educational background.
He further said that the scorecard will be fair to all students refuting claims that the new funding model will lock out students from needy backgrounds.
HELB CEO Clarifies how Loans will be Disbursed
