Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba on Monday came out to address confusion surrounding the new university fees after the government slashed the fund by 40 per cent weeks earlier. At the start of August, the Education Cabinet Secretary announced the government had lowered university fees payable by students across all academic programmes. Despite the announcement, the rollout of the lowered fees has been marred by inconsistencies, with students across the country left in uncertainty over delays in letters confirming the cut, despite applications. Ogamba moved to avert fears, as he explained the delays in disbursing letters confirming student applications were largely due to late submissions from some institutions. A file image of students pictured outside a local university Facebook "Everything was ready on Friday, August 15.
It is only now that the universities have started inputting data on students' totals.
Some schools were behind because of the weekend, but it should be ready this week," Ogamba said. As the September to November semester draws nearer, several university students and their parents are yet to settle their fees, since they are yet to hear from the government on the 40 per cent reduction. "I applied for HELB and a scholarship, and I was told it was successful.
But I'm not sure how much I will receive since the government announced a reduction of fees," he said. Sections of students from the Kisii University also had similar challenges, as they vowed to halt their studies until they were certain of the exact figure they were expected to pay. According to the students, the reduction only applied to specific courses, while others were left in a wave of uncertainty. "For some courses, a lot of changes announced by the government have not been effected.
