Trouble is looming as thousands of first-year university students are yet to join various universities where they were placed by Kenya University and Colleges Central Placement board.
The results for placement were released early last month, in August, but the admission letters are yet to be released by some universities and colleges.
The admission was set to be early this month for some institutions.
As the problem for admission letters is giving the learners sleepless nights due to anxiety, those who have received the letters are not a completely happy lot. This is because some of them do not have national identification cards and this means that they cannot qualify to apply for a HELB loan. Without a valid national identification card, one doesn’t qualify to get this loan as the ID is a crucial document/requirement.
A few who are lucky have so far reported to the various institutions for higher learning. It is also reported that twenty-seven thousand application forms for the HELB loan have been received so far. Three point two billion shillings have been set aside ready to be allocated to the new students says the chief executive officer of the higher education loans board, Ringera Charles.
The expected number of application forms for the loans is 100,000 on the lower side out of the 128,000 students who were placed on different institutions of higher learning by KUCCPS.
Other than the three point two billion shillings for the students joining universities, another seven point six billion shillings have been dispersed already for the continuing students Ringera said.
The students joining the TVET institutions are not left out as they have a share of the bread. Kenya shillings three point two billion have been put aside for the students joining Technical and Vocational Education Training institutions.
Previously students were allocated forty three thousand shillings but now that amount is going to be reduced by six thousand shillings. This, therefore, means that successful candidates will be credited with thirty seven thousand shillings only.
This decision to lower or reduce the amount was reached upon because of the increasing demand and the reduced budget Charles Ringera stated. This spells trouble (trouble is looming) for the students considering the difficult economic times that we are in.
Some learners were forced to report to various institutions without formal admission letters. However, Letters of admission were placed on the website by other institutions but students encountered trouble downloading them.
Additionally, some students do not have the slightest idea of how to access these admission letters and where to download them. Trouble is looming as this will make it even harder for them to report for admission.
