"Act now": Universities Fund urges students to apply for scholarships

This story has significance for readers across Kenya and beyond.

- Over 159,000 first-year students submitted funding applications through the HEF Portal ahead of the 2026/2027 academic year

- Universities Fund received ISO 9001:2015 recertification from the Kenya Bureau of Standards during the application period

- Thousands of students with incomplete or ongoing applications face a hard deadline to finalise their submissions

The Universities Fund has urged thousands of first-year university students who have unfinished funding applications to complete the process by August 31, 2026, as the 2026/2027 academic year approaches.

As of August 20, 2026, a total of 159,551 students had submitted applications through the Higher Education Financing (HEF) Portal, out of the 202,133 students placed in public universities by the Kenya Universities and Colleges Placement Service (KUCCPS). Of those applications, 5,732 remained incomplete or still in progress.

The Universities Fund offers scholarships to applicants, while HELB is responsible for loans.

Breakdown of Applications Received

Among the completed submissions, 150,403 included a Universities Fund scholarship component. Breaking this down further, 149,761 were scholarship and loan combination applications, while 642 were scholarship-only applications. An additional 9,148 students applied for loans only.

Universities Fund Chief Executive Officer Dr Edwin Wanyonyi called on affected students to act without delay.

"We, therefore, wish to encourage the affected students to complete the application process by 31st August 2026," he said.

Wanyonyi also highlighted the scale of the Fund's disbursements over recent years. Scholarship beneficiaries in public universities grew from 118,153 in the 2023/2024 financial year to 253,042 in 2024/2025 and further to 408,879 in 2025/2026. The Fund projects approximately 608,879 beneficiaries in the current financial year.

ISO Recertification and Disbursements

The announcements came alongside the Fund's receipt of ISO 9001:2015 recertification from the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS), recognising its quality management systems. Wanyonyi said the certification is fundamentally about trust.

"It is about assuring students that their applications and funding are handled through transparent and reliable systems. It is about assuring universities that funding processes are governed by clear procedures and accountability mechanisms. It is about assuring Government and taxpayers that public resources are managed prudently," he said.

The Fund has disbursed approximately KSh 47.9 billion in scholarships to public university students from the 2023/2024 to 2025/2026 financial years.

Government scholarships for the current year total KSh 30.1 billion, bringing the cumulative figure to KSh 78 billion.

For private universities, approximately KSh 19.96 billion has been disbursed under the Differentiated Unit Cost framework since 2016/2017, with KSh 974 million already released in the current year. At the start of August 2026, the Fund also made a first allocation of KSh 2.5 billion directly to universities.

Universities Fund Board Chairperson Karuti Kanyinga said the recertification reflects the institution's commitment to governance and service delivery.

Source: TUKO.co.ke

Reporting originally appeared via TUKO. Read the full source for additional context.