University students who join campus before turning 18 would not pay interest on government loans while they are minors under amendments proposed by Mukurweini MP John Kaguchia to the Tertiary Education, Placement and Funding Bill, 2026.

The Bill, now before the National Assembly's Education Committee, would set up a Tertiary Education Funding Authority (TEFA) that takes over the work of the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB), the Universities Fund and the TVET Funding Board.

What Kaguchia wants changed

According to the Daily Nation, the MP's proposals include:

  • Loans to students below 18 would attract no interest for as long as the borrower is a minor.
  • A parent or guardian would co-sign the loan agreement for an underage student.
  • Clause 44, which he says provides only for loans, would be amended to include scholarships for needy students.
  • Changes to how continuing students are moved into the new model, which he warned would otherwise increase their debt.

Underage students have long been a headache for HELB because they cannot legally sign contracts or hold national identity cards. Previous attempts to change the law to cover them were vetoed or dropped, and the Cabinet later waived the ID requirement so that about 1,000 first-year students would not miss out on loans.

A wider fight over loans

The proposals add to concerns raised during public hearings on the Bill. Education Committee chair Julius Melly has said the Bill provides for an interest rate of four per cent, and some participants want interest scrapped altogether. Repayment deductions would be capped at 25 per cent of a borrower's pay.

Education stakeholders, including the lecturers' union UASU and the teachers' union KUPPET, have opposed a provision requiring graduates to start repaying within a year of finishing their studies, saying many will still be jobless, Kenyans.co.ke reported. Kiambu Senator Karungo wa Thang'wa has also warned that replacing targeted scholarships with mainly repayable loans could leave the poorest students, especially in expensive courses such as medicine, with the biggest debts.

UASU, for its part, wants the Bill to separate student financing from the money used to run universities, arguing that lecturers' pay should come from the Exchequer and not from fees and loan proceeds.

What happens next

The committee is expected to table its report with recommended amendments before the House debates the Bill. Until it is passed, the ministry says first-year students continue to be funded under the current student-centred model, with HELB and the Universities Fund handling applications.

Photos: Kenyans.co.ke (HELB offices); Daryona via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0) (Parliament Buildings, Nairobi). Thumbnail design: HAMASTA MEDIA.