Council of VCs concedes public universities are in the red, asks State to double subsidies and call for fee increase. Public universities may be forced to increase fees by Sh8, 000 to shake off financial constraints that have left them broke. The 32 universities want annual fees paid by students increased from Sh16,000 to Sh24,000, and the Government to also raise the average contribution per student to Sh250,000, from an average of Sh129,058. They argue the current funding model is outdated and blame it for the financial stress that has seen a majority of public universities sink into huge debts with negative working capital as detailed in a recent parliamentary watchdog report. But in the meantime, to help the struggling institutions, the Government is being pushed to increase its annual capitation by Sh10 billion by next year. It also emerged that, under this arrangement, universities would have to increase their contribution per student to up to Sh50, 000 per year. The details emerged as universities sought to clarify why it may never be sustainable to run the institutions of higher learning under the current funding formula. Data seen by The Standard show that the current Sh32.8 billion funding of the public universities is inadequate and its distribution skewed, leaving many institutions vulnerable. With a growing student population and a funding formula that has never been revised for the past 25 years, public universities say the list of broke universities is shocking. “It is true many universities are in the red and we do not even understand how they are surviving,” said Prof Francis Aduol, chairman of the committee of the vice-chancellors of public universities in Kenya. FUNDING LEVELS Statistics of the 2015/2016 universities funding show University of Nairobi received the highest funding at Sh6.3 billion.
Read more at: [U]http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2000219957/kenyan-universities-fees-shocker-for-parents-students[/U]
My take: You all heard about the kind of corruption that takes place in universities when that Mandago guy opened his dirty mouth. Hapa kuna uvundo mkubwa. If the fees are raised, I would not be surprised if Kenya experiences worse strikes than those that are going on in South Africa.
Masinde Muliro tried to pull this stunt by increasing fee without notice but students went on strike.
Problem is that universities,especially these new ones, want to build everything at a go. For example, currently masinde muliro has 3 different projects they want to complete, geared towards money making e.g a Mortuary in the guise of an ‘anatomy lab’. It’s a great idea but I don’t think even KU accomplished its successes by increasing fees arbitrarily.
…and while they’re increasing fees, MKU is reducing…
When you factor in the monies paid by guys who are not on the government sponsored program you wonder just what do these Unis do with all their monies?
For instance pale JKUAT they have not built new hostels since Hall 6, lecture halls ni zilezile except for a new Common Lectures Block (CLB) which could not set them back more than 10million.if they are not putting up new infrastructure then why do they have budget deficits???
In short, most unis are jealous of the buildings at KU and JKUAT ama?
I used to think the unis made a shitload of money from those privately sponsored students too. I think they do, actually. It is just that they are too greedy and have no proper action plan. like every time there’s a debate on social media about buildings at KU, students complain that accommodation and lecture halls are not among the things that are being built. Kwani basi KU na JKUAT wamejenga nini? I thought hizo buildings mpya ni za accommodation na lecture halls?
someone busted them for offering, is it doctorates in computer something (cannot remember which field exactly - eng or science), without having proper structures including lecturers. Strath is just an overrated and expensive college. I like their business courses though.
KU kwanza built a mall na sijui how long it will take for the institution to get a positive return on investment. Though, I think the hospital was a good idea. Lakini Moi Uni and several others ni upuzi tu wako nayo.
On the KU mall I think they messed up but that’s a story for another day, the gate they recently built was quoted as having gobbled 16 million…I really don’t see that quote justifiable. …but the one that pissed me of was the hospital…they could have built something bigger than KNH…say 100 floors, a couple of helipad 's, something that can really release pressure from KNH as the best & most modern hospital in EA…
The biggest problem with public universities is greed and incompetency. What they are suffering from are cash flow problems that have got nothing to do with the fees levied. How a university manager would engage in capital projects on a massive scale(malls, hotels, office blocks etc) and ignore the institution’s core business(tuition, research and development) is beyond me. Inevitably, the situation will catch up with you as you will have spread yourself so thin.
This just shows that no matter how much education a Kenyan gets we are still unable to get rid of " it’s our time to eat mentality" these universities are full of bright guys so I expected them to come up with innovative ways of reducing debt.
The mall had Uchumi as the anchor tenant then they pulled out. Now they are trying to get Naivas to move in as the anchor tenant. The only problem is that the mall does not have direct access from the University which would have made it easy for the close to 20,000 students and staff members to access. A the moment you have to leave the university through the main gate and walk a short distance