Helb loans 2025/2026: All you need to know

REPUBLIC OF KENYA
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION PRESS STATEMENT
THURSDAY 31ST JULY 2025: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SCHOLARSHIPS AND LOANS FUNDING UPDATE FOR THE 2025/2026 ACADEMIC YEAR

The Ministry of Education wishes to reassure all Kenyans, especially students, parents, guardians, and our learning institutions, of the Government’s strong and ongoing commitment to supporting access to higher education for all deserving learners.

We are pleased to confirm that both HELB and Universities Fund have been facilitated by the Government to disburse funds to Universities and Students. Indeed the disbursement of HELB loans for first-year university students will begin on 15th August 2025, in line with the reopening of universities. These funds will be released in phases to ensure a smooth transition into University/TVET College and to help students settle into their academic journey without interruption. In addition, the Universities Fund has begun disbursing first quarter scholarship funds for this FY 2025/2026 to all Public Universities.

Applications for loans and scholarships for 2024 KCSE cohort placed by KUCCPS is ongoing. As of today, 129,403 university students and 60,976 TVET trainees have successfully submitted their Scholarships and loan applications under the Student-Centred Funding Model [SCFM]. The application portal remains open until 31st August 2025, and we encourage all eligible students who have not yet applied to do so before the deadline date.

This academic year under the SCFM HELB and the Universities Fund expects to support 201,695 first-year university students and over 237,000 TVET trainees in addition to 257,523 ongoing students. So far, the submitted applications represent 64% of university applicants and 51% of those expected for the September TVET intake, reflecting good progress. Processing of the already received applications are ongoing to ensure timely funds disbursement to students and Institutions of Higher Learning.

To ensure No Student is left behind, the Government has increased HELB’s annual funding from KSh.36 billion to KSh.41 billion, a significant boost of KSh.5 billion. Of this, KSh.13 billion has already been released to support tuition, and upkeep for students while KShs. 16.9 billion has been allocated to the Universities Fund for Scholarships.

The Ministry remains committed to ensuring that no eligible student is left behind due to financial constraints.

Hon. Julius Migos Ogamba EBS,
CABINET SECRETARY