Money to isolate medicine, law students from those in the arts

Details have now emerged how much parents and student will pay for degree, diploma and certificate courses in public and private universities.

An analysis by The Standard shows that the most preferred courses such as medicine, education, law, engineering, pharmacy, computer science attract higher fees across universities. The same applies to architecture, dental surgery, actuarial science and electrical engineering courses.

Those who want to pursue a degree in dental surgery will pay the highest fees.

Moi University and University of Nairobi are the only two institutions that declared to offer bachelor of dental surgery.

Students who will chose to pursue this course at Moi university will pay Sh612,000 while those at University of Nairobi will pay Sh521,050 per year.

The data on courses and their costs were for the first time uploaded on the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) portal.

Parents' role

Parents, for the next 21 days, are expected to analyse the courses and their costs while helping their children pick courses they want to pursue.

For Bachelor of Pharmacy, only eight universities have declared to teach the course.

These are Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture And Technology (JKUAT), Kabarak, Kenya Methodist university, Kenyatta university, Kisii University, Maseno University, Mount Kenya University and University of Nairobi.

Kemu will charge the highest fees for this course, at Sh544,500 a year. It is followed by JKUAT at Sh492,660 then Kenyatta University and Maseno University at Sh428,400. To study it at Kabarak it will cost Sh427,450 an academic year.

MKU will charge the least for this course at Sh375,000; University of Nairobi charges Sh413,950.

For Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Catholic university of Eastern Africa will charge the least fees of Sh188,200. Uzima university will charge the highest at Sh367,100 a year.

Law is also an expensive course. Out of the 14 universities that offer the course, Daystar University was the most expensive charging Sh335,000 per year while Mount Kenya was the least offering the course at Sh173,000 annually.

Studying law at JKUAT will cost Sh238,208 a year while Moi University, Chuka University, Maseno University, Kenyatta University and Embu University all offered the course for Sh183,600 a year.

For an education degree in sciences Kisii University charges the highest at Sh88,500 with the least being Lukenya university offering it at Sh86,200 per academic year.

Daystar remained the most expensive for education arts course charging Sh257,800 per academic year compared to Sh82,350 being offered at Kiriri Women's University of Science and Technology.

Apart from the education courses, humanities and social sciences are also affordable compared to medicine courses. They include economics, geography, history, philosophy, religion, literature, political science and linguistics which go for a modest Sh144,000 per academic year.

For engineering related courses that fall under cluster five, 16 universities will offer bachelor of science (industrial chemistry with IT) option. The students who will be enrolled at Kisii university will pay the highest fees of Sh294,185. This will be followed by Multimedia university of Kenya at Sh288,000. Students at the University of Nairobi will pay Sh281,350.

Mount Kenya University students will pay the least fees of Sh110,000. They will be followed by Technical University of Kenya at Sh213,750. Students at Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, Muranga University of Science and Technology, Tom Mboya and University of Embu will each pay Sh244,800.

For civil engineering, Dedan Kimathi University, JKUAT, Kenyatta University, Machakos University, Multimedia University and South Eastern Kenya University all charge the highest fees of Sh336,600.

The lowest fees of Sh300,000 is charged at Technical University of Kenya.

For bachelor of architecture listed under cluster six, only five universities declared capacities to teach. JKUAT, Kenyatta University, TUK, Technical University of Mombasa and University of Nairobi offer the course.

JKUAT charges the highest fees of Sh367,200.

University of Nairobi charges Sh347,650 being while Kenyatta University is at Sh306,000. The least fees of Sh275,400 is charged at TUM, followed by TUK at Sh288,000.

Funding formula

In the new funding formula, President William Ruto said student funding will comprise scholarships, loans and household contributions on a graduated scale.

He said students from needy households will receive government scholarships of up to a maximum of 53 per cent and loans of up to 40 per cent.

The parent will only pay 7 per cent of the cost.

Those joining TVETS will receive government scholarships up to a maximum of 50 per cent and 30 per cent in loans. Their households will pay 20 per cent of the costs.

The less needy students joining university are to be funded through a government scholarship of up to a maximum of 38 per cent, 55 per cent will be in form of loans and their households will pay only 7 per cent.

For those joining TVETS, they will be funded 32 per cent for government scholarship, 48 per cent for loans and their households will pay 20 per cent of the costs.

The costs of the courses now start to give a clearer picture on what the government will pay and what parents will take up based on whether their children get scholarships not. Details of eligibility to get a scholarship was also released with among other things the primary and secondary schools a student attended.