16,000 college students to get Helb loans

Nairobi, Kenya: Students selected to join technical colleges have a reason to smile. Some 16,000 who have enrolled in technical industrial vocational and entrepreneurship training (Tivet) institutions will benefit from Government loans for the first time this year.

The beneficiaries are the first group to be placed by the new Kenya Universities and Colleges Placement Service (KUCCPS) to Tivet institutions.

Acting chief executive officer of the placement agency, John Muraguri, yesterday said students were enlisted competitively to study various programmes in the institutions.

Previously, the students were placed and admitted into various programmes by individual institutions.

Higher Education Loans Board (Helb) Chief Executive Officer Charles Ringera said the agency had a budget of Sh400 million to facilitate the loans and bursaries. He said each of the students would receive an average of Sh45,000.

Revised rates

“We will give them loans of Sh30,000 and bursaries of Sh15,000,” said Mr Ringera.

He said the figures reflected the revised rates following the increased allocation to cater for students in Tivet colleges.

“Previously, when we had a budget of only Sh100 million, each student received Sh12,000,” said Ringera.

He asked all eligible students to apply but noted that only students admitted to colleges recognised by the Education ministry and were registered by KUCCPS would be considered.

“The closing date for the Tivet loan and bursary applications is November 30. Application forms are available on the Helb website,” he said.

The request for applications comes a few days after the Government released Sh1.8 billion to settle higher education loan requests. The 110,000 students are drawn from universities and colleges.