Students who sat the 2025 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations and are awaiting placement into universities and colleges have been advised to begin preparing the documents required for Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) funding applications.
In a notice issued on Wednesday, HELB encouraged prospective applicants to organise the necessary information and supporting documents in advance to ensure a smooth application process when the online loan portal opens in July.
Among the key requirements are a valid email address and an active mobile phone number. Applicants will also need to provide their KCPE and KCSE index numbers, alongside the respective years they sat the examinations.
To complete the application, students will be required to upload a recent passport-size photograph in either JPEG, JPG or PNG format. A copy of a National Identity Card or Maisha Card will also be mandatory.
For applicants who are still minors, HELB stated that a birth certificate in PDF format must be submitted during the application process.
The board further directed students who received sponsorship support while in secondary school to have copies of their sponsorship letters ready for upload.
As part of the verification process, applicants will also be required to provide their parents’ National Identity Card numbers and registered mobile phone contacts. Students whose parents are deceased must submit copies of the relevant death certificates in PDF format.
HELB also requires applicants to furnish details of two guarantors, including their National ID numbers and registered mobile phone numbers. The board noted that parents may serve as guarantors.
The notice comes ahead of the official loan portal opening in the second week of July. According to HELB Chief Executive Officer Geoffrey Monari, the portal will begin immediately after the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) finalizes placements.
“I want to assure all students, parents and stakeholders that they should be able to apply for their loans online when we open. We are just waiting for KUCCPS to complete their placement so that we can open, most probably by the second week of July,” Monari said during an interview on KBC.
In the 2026/27 budget, the government allocated HELB Sh56.3 billion, representing a Sh14.8 billion increase from the previous allocation of Sh41.5 billion.
The allocation is aimed at expanding access to higher education financing, supporting more students from vulnerable backgrounds, and easing the burden of tuition and upkeep costs for learners in universities and technical institutions across the country.
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