The Universities Fund (UF) has invited continuing students to apply for scholarships under the Student-Centred Funding Model for the 2026/2027 academic year.
The Fund encouraged eligible students who are either in their second year of study and beyond to apply for funding via USSD code *642# using their mobile phones.
The announcement is targeting the students who were placed to public universities by the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS). The students can apply for assistance every year.
Additionally, the Fund will also invite applications from first-year undergraduate students who sat the 2025 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination.
The students are expected to join universities from September this year. The applications will be made online via the Higher Education Financing (HEF) Portal.
KUCCPS had opened its system from April 7, 2026 to May 6, 2026 to allow the Form Four leavers to select their preferred public institutions and academic programmes.
Data from the first application exercise showed that 212,510 eligible students had applied for various courses in the 43 public universities, representing 79.1% of the 268,714 candidates eligible for university placement.
For a student to qualify for scholarship, he/she must have attained a mean grade of C+ or above and placed to a public university by KUCCPS.
In March this year, UF Ag. Chief Executive Officer Dr Edwin Wanyonyi disclosed that KSh4.2 billion in scholarships had been disbursed to public universities to support continuing students. The funds were part of the allocations for the 2025/2026 financial year.
According to the budget estimates for the 2026/2027 financial year, the Fund was allocated Sh31.1 billion for scholarships.
Under the model, which aims to enhance access to affordable university education for vulnerable students, scholarship awards range between 30 to 70 percent.
