With the rising cost of living and recent changes to the education funding model, many university students in Kenya are encountering substantial financial obstacles in their pursuit of higher education.
Sarah Awuor, an 18-year-old student recently admitted to Kenyatta University to study for a Bachelor’s degree in Special Needs Education, is among those affected.
Awuor’s family has struggled to raise the required Ksh 48,960 for her first-semester fees, leaving her on the brink of dropping out and returning to her family home in Mathare slum. Under the government’s new funding model, Awuor has been categorized in Band 5, which assumes her family is financially stable enough to cover a significant portion of her education costs. According to the model, Band 5 students receive only a 30% scholarship and a 30% loan, resulting in annual education costs of Ksh 97,920 for Awuor.
However, this categorization has proven to be a poor fit for Awuor’s situation. Her family’s limited income makes it nearly impossible to meet these financial demands. “I think I will just drop out because there is no point in staying here if I cannot pay the fees,” Awuor said, detailing her struggles with hunger and the psychological burden of financial uncertainty.
“I can’t concentrate in class. Sometimes, I go without food,” she admitted, adding that she feels compelled to return to Mathare, the impoverished community where she grew up. Her father, a local artisan in the Jua Kali sector, and her unemployed mother are unable to cover the steep costs of her university education. Awuor’s siblings, who are still in secondary school, rely on scholarships provided by a Mathare-based basketball academy—the same program that funded her high school education. Yet, the family’s financial struggles persist, and her father remains unable to meet the looming deadline for her university fees.
In an attempt to ease her financial burden, Awuor initially appealed her Band 5 placement, hoping to be reassigned to Band 1, which would have qualified her for greater financial support. Unfortunately, her appeal resulted in a placement in Band 3, leaving her education costs still largely unaffordable.
“Band 1 would have been the best option for me, but that hasn’t happened,” Awuor lamented. The mismatch between her family’s financial reality and the assumptions of the new funding model has left her future hanging in the balance.
