The Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) has announced the extension of students loan application period for both first-time and continuing students.
In a statement released on Tuesday, September 2, HELB announced that first-time applicants have until September 14 to submit applications, with application window for continuing students set to close on September 7.
“Applications for first-time and continuing university and TVET loans are open,” HELB said.
The extension covers students applying for the second, third, or fourth time, depending on the length of their academic programmes. Applicants can submit their forms via *642#, the HELB mobile App, or the M-Pesa mini App.
The extension follows Education Cabinet Julius Ogamba’s directive to extend the loan application timeline for first-time applicants until September 14, following the disbursement of Sh23.1 billion for tuition and upkeep fees for university and TVET students.
Of the total amount, HELB provided Sh4.1 billion as scholarship support for students in public universities and dedicated the remaining Sh19.06 billion to tuition (Sh7.6 billion) and student upkeep (Sh11.46 billion).
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“We are pleased to notify parents, guardians, university and TVET students that the Universities Fund and the Higher Education Loans Board have, as of today, disbursed a total of Sh23.16 billion in financial support to 802,159 University and TVET students across the country,” Ogamba said.
“To ensure that no student is left behind, the Universities Fund and the Higher Education Loans Board have been instructed to extend the timeline for first-year applicants to 14th September, 2025,” he added.
The extension is expected to benefit 802,159 students across universities and TVET institutions.
By September 1, HELB had received a total of 1,117,239 applications for loans and scholarships. Of these, 741,931 came from university students, while 375,308 were from TVET learners.
