Agency appeals for financial assistance to uplift vulnerable students

The Universities Fund (UF) has appealed for intervention from more partners in a bid to bridge the funding gaps in providing scholarships to vulnerable Kenyan students in universities.

The UF acting Chief Executive Officer Edwin Wanyonyi said the high increase in the number of students joining universities annually is posing a serious challenge since government funding alone is not enough to support learners in needy of financial assistance. 

Speaking in Naivasha Town during a media sensitisation workshop, Dr Wanyonyi said the number of students joining universities had kept rising.

“If you look at the trend, you will find that the number of students joining universities in Kenya has been tripling in the last ten years. This means the vulnerable students who need scholarships also keeps increasing annually,” Dr Wanyonyi said.

He said the agency suffers budget constraints due to annual increase of vulnerable students in universities. In the last financial year, the UF had a funding gap of 9.6 billion, and gap still exist in the current financial year.

The gaps are attributed to the fact that funds from the National Treasury alone cannot support all students who apply for the scholarship from UF.

“As a government agency, we depend on funds from the National Treasury and other partners in the diaspora to support the scholarship programmes for our needy students. But the funds alone are inadequate, that is why we appeal for more support from our current partners and other partners who have not supported us before,” Dr Wanyonyi noted.

He said many testimonies had revealed how the scholarships had transformed lives by empowering students from families which are seriously challenged financially.

“The reality is that there are many students who could acquire university education in Kenya if we didn’t give them scholarships. The scholarship has changed many lives. We are appealing to more partners to come on board and help us transform lives of students in this country,” Dr Wanyonyi said.

The UF has benefited some 577, 526 students. Among them are 320,003 supported through Differentiated Unit Cost model and 257, 523 sponsored through the Student Centered Funding Model.

The agency spent more than Sh40 billion on scholarships in universities in the 2024/2025 financial year.

The UF channels scholarship annually to ensure deserving students acquire university education. It empowers students by ensuring equity and fairness in acquiring training in universities.

The UF is currently transiting from the Differentiated Unit Cost model to the Student Centered Funding Model, which is more efficient for students to acquire the financial support in their education.

Students must apply in order to benefit from scholarships from UF.

“A student cannot get a scholarship from the UF if they don’t apply. Let them apply and we will handle their applications fairly,” Dr Wanyonyi assured.