The Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service is charging every Form Four graduate joining college or university Sh3,000, earning it about Sh1 billion every year.
While it charges every applicant Sh1,500 for placement, the agency well known by its initials KUCCPS levies same amount when the candidates report to institutions of higher learning.
The agency could be earning close to Sh1 billion every year, taking into account the Sh1,000 institutional transfer fees paid for last-ditch attempts to enter a university or polytechnic of choice.
A national polytechnic says in its admission requirements that students on government sponsorship pay Sh2,000 compared to Sh500 for self-sponsored candidates.
Public universities collect Sh1,500 on behalf of KUCCPS when freshers report. However, it is not clear why the State agency is making the charges in layers or phases.
KUCCPS chief executive Dr Agnes Wahome declined to comment on the charges on phone, asking A Plain to report to the agency’s offices for identification and possible face-to-face interview.
“Were you placed by KUCCPS? If yes, on admission you will pay Sh2,000; Sh500 remains with us while KUCCPS invoices us at Sh1,500 for placement,” a senior college official said on inquiry.
For the 2021 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) graduates joining various learning institutions this month, 123,963 were picked for degree programmes while 129,536 were placed to TVETs. Teacher trainers offering secondary and primary school programmes, got 1,831 students through the placement agency.
A total of 255,330 were, therefore, placed through KUCCPS, possibly earning the agency about Sh800 million. This is slightly lower than 265,145 that got admission letters a year earlier.
While more than 145,000 qualified for university studies by scoring C+ and above in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams, 16,310 did not apply and are believed to have used different channels into private universities in Kenya and abroad.
An increasing number of candidates are shunning Kenyan universities considering that in 2020, only 7,850 did not apply despite attaining the required entry points.
While 826,807 learners sat for KCSE but 555,573 did not apply for any course, although it is a slight improvement from the 2020 figure of 604,021.
KUCCPS replaced the Joint Admissions Board (JAB), an assembly of public university vice-chancellors that placed candidates to degree programmes.
KUCCPS, however, is a more elaborate agency headed by a chairman, managed by a chief executive, two directors and a host of managers in charge of HR, corporate communication, Finance, and ICT.
Thanks to central placement, families have been spared a possible skewed admissions, especially at polytechnics where individuals applied for courses and waited for a long time to be accepted or get regrets.
The central placement has also lowered the burden of courses selection for individual colleges, but it has never been explained that the KUCCPS charges learners an extra Sh1,500 after paying the placement.
Technical institutes and polytechnics charge an annual fees of Sh56,420, excluding accommodation fees while universities charge Sh16,000 annual tuition fees. Learners placed to TVETs under the Ministry of Education benefit from a Sh30,000 capitation annually.
At universities, the managers have been unsuccessfully trying for many years to raise tuition fees, including recently when they made a shock recommendation to triple the fees.
Every time they have proposed to review the fees upwards, the learners have resisted the revision and got overwhelming support from quarters as high up as Parliament.
The University of Nairobi has, however, gone ahead and more than doubled fees for undergrad and master’s courses from September 2021.
Among others, its MBA and communication master’s courses will cost Sh680,000 from Sh275,000 while government-sponsored medical freshers will pay Sh59,000, up from Sh26,200.
Universities collectively owe various institutions more than Sh34 billion in unremitted payroll taxes, insurance premiums, retirement benefit contributions, and student loan repayments.
Through its online admission portal, Kenyatta University charges undergraduate and graduate applicants Sh2,000 and Sh3,000 respectively. Non-East Africans pay $50, approximately Sh5,000.
