HELB Clarifies on why Many Students will miss the Loan
HELB Clarifies on why Many Students will miss the Loan. The Higher Education Loans Board (Helb) has criticized the exchequer’s more than Sh6.1 billion in budget cuts, claiming that the total reductions over the last two fiscal years have compromised its capacity to provide loans to university students.
Helb authorities warned yesterday that an estimated 142,361 students are now affected and are at risk of losing out on such payments if the government doesn’t act in good time. This is due to the unpredictable and frequently delayed disbursements by the National Treasury.
Helb’s Chief Executive Charles Ringera said, “We continue to make an appeal that unutilised funds be made available if we are to address the shortfall.” He added that the board’s financial crisis has caused students in public universities and technical and vocational education and training (TVET) colleges to miss out on State loans.
He was talking when the Helb Mobile Wallet and Helb M-Pesa Mini App first went live. at this year’s consultative forum for universities in collaboration with Safaricom.
About 53% of Helb’s budget is provided by Kenya’s exchequer, and 47% comes from efforts to recover loans, with the latter posing a challenge to the organization.
According to Ringera, the education authority is currently pursuing organizations in the private sector, such as foundations, in an effort to raise enough money to close the current funding gap.
“Since then, we have raised approximately Sh2.1 billion from these partners—roughly 40 of them—outside of treasury funding, which has benefited 55 students,” he said.
Students will be able to withdraw money, pay back loans, apply for new loans, monitor their loan status, and access their statements all via an Android and iPhone app thanks to the ground-breaking HELB Mobile Wallet.
Helb estimates that Sh147.5 billion in student loans have been disbursed to far during the past ten years.
And while the institution has faced difficulties with the repayment process (from borrowing students), at a rate of 50.11 percent, non-performing loans made to former university students as well as reduced Treasury allocation have severely restricted the firm’s ability to satisfy its obligations.