Funyula MP Wilberforce Oundo has called on Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba to stop universities from demanding upfront fees from students before they can complete admission and register for courses.
Oundo said some students were being asked to pay between KSh10,000 and KSh14,000 before they could be admitted.
The MP argued that the charges go against earlier government instructions on the admission of students under the new higher education funding arrangements.
He urged Ogamba to direct universities to admit students and allow them to register for their course units without requiring the upfront payments.
The concerns come as the government continues to implement changes to the higher education funding system.
The Ministry of Education has extended the deadline for students applying for government funding to September 21, 2026. The extension gives first-time university students and TVET trainees who missed the earlier August 31 deadline another opportunity to apply.
By August 31, the ministry had received 789,422 funding applications.
The funding changes come at a difficult time for public universities, which are facing serious financial challenges.
In July, Ogamba told MPs that public universities had a funding shortfall of nearly KSh28 billion under the existing government funding arrangements.
The government has been seeking additional funds from the National Treasury while universities have also been encouraged to explore other sources of income.
The government is also working on a new funding framework that is expected to replace the Student-Centred Funding Model introduced in 2023.
Ogamba has described the proposed Universal Student Funding Model as a system focused on helping students build their future professional capacity.
The funding uncertainty has particularly affected students joining universities for the 2026/2027 academic year.
Some universities have already started registering first-year students as they wait for clearer direction on how the new funding arrangements will work.
The University of Eldoret, for example, had reportedly registered about 8,000 first-year students against a capacity of around 2,000, putting additional pressure on accommodation and other facilities.
The Ministry of Education has directed the Universities Fund and the Higher Education Loans Board to keep the funding application window open until September 21.
Applications will continue to be assessed under the current Student-Centred Funding Model as Parliament considers the proposed Tertiary Education, Placement and Funding Bill, 2026.
The government says the reforms are intended to make higher education more accessible while creating a sustainable way of financing universities and TVET institutions.
However, the latest complaints show that students and universities are still facing uncertainty as the country transitions to the new funding system.
