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Student leader says varsity fee increment will lead to drop out

December 16th, 2015 2 min read

By NAIROBI NEWS REPORTER

Student leaders have urged the government to first streamline the disbursement of student loans before increasing tuition fee. Reacting to the proposed increment the University of Nairobi School of Health Sciences Campus Representative Magare Magara said if tuition fee is increased many students will drop out of the institution.

“The move is illegal and uncalled for as they should have involved all stakeholders including the students, through their leaders, to arrive on a common ground,” said Magara in an exclusive interview with Nairobi News.

Vice Chancellors were on Monday in a meeting with the Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i to discuss the proposed fee increment.

Daily Nation reported that sources had hinted that the new fee structure will be based on the degree programme and that courses such as medicine would have their fees increased up to Sh500, 000.

The government will then decide on the number of students it will sponsor along with the percentage of fees that it will pay. The students will be required to top up the rest.

PROPOSED INCREMENT

Mr Magara said if the proposed increment is implement, government sponsored students are likely to suffer.

“Most JAB students come from public schools and are from poor backgrounds and so they depend on the HELB loans to pay school fees and to cater for other expenses,” said Magara.

He added that the loans are disbursed in phases yet the students are required to clear their fees within the first semester.

“This means that if the fee is increased students will not be able to clear their fees, leave alone survive in the university,” said Magara.

The medicine programme runs for six academic years and the annual fee for JAB students ranges from Sh25,000-29,000 while self-sponsored students pay an average of Sh480,000 per year.