HELB will allow students under 18 years to apply for loans if a bill proposed in parliament by Machakos County Women Representative Joyce Kamene is passed.
The Higher Education Loans Board Amendment Bill No. 58 seeks to amend the HELB Act No. 3 to require HELB not to deny any student who is below 18 years from applying for HELB loan.
Currently, HELB only allows students over the age of 18 to apply for loans, as a national ID number is a mandatory requirement for signing the loan application agreement.
To cure this problem, the bill proposes that HELB loan applicants below 18 years who do not have an identification card shall be required to use their parent’s or guardian’s ID number as co-signatories to sign the loan agreement.
If the bill becomes law, it will benefit thousands of poor students in Kenya joining TVET, College, or University under the age of 18 years who have previously been unable to apply for HELB loan because of the ID requirement.
The bill is current is currently on its first reading. We will provide an update in a separate post once the bill becomes law.
Leave a Comment