Surging Hostel Fees Forcing Students Into Slums
Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna has expressed shock over the high cost of university hostel accommodation, saying students are being forced to vacate on-campus facilities and move to informal settlements in unsafe and undignified conditions.
Speaking in the Senate on Thursday, July 24, Senator Sifuna called for immediate action, saying the fee hikes are reckless and unregulated. He asked the Senate Education Committee to investigate the new accommodation charges and find out if there are any regulatory mechanisms in place.
According to Sifuna, students are being priced out of university-managed housing and are moving to low-income areas. “Students are being forced into slums because they cannot afford the new hostel rates,” he said.
This comes at a time when public universities are set to receive thousands of new first-year students for the 2024/2025 academic year. The Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) has just concluded the placement process and assigned 194,372 students to degree programmes in public institutions across the country. First-year students will report in August.
Data shows that public universities in Kenya have limited on-campus accommodation. For instance, the University of Nairobi (UoN) has a hostel capacity of about 10,000 beds against an enrollment of over 47,000 students. This means nearly 80 percent of students are off-campus and in inadequate housing.
Accommodation in public universities is allocated through digital application systems that prioritize government-sponsored students. Self-sponsored students rarely get placement in campus hostels and have to look for private rental housing where prices are unregulated and often unaffordable.
Read Also: Kenyan Activist Mwabili Abducted
Student associations have reported that the cost of on-campus housing has gone up. At UoN for example, students recently threatened to demonstrate after hostel fees were allegedly increased from Ksh 6,000 in 2021 to Ksh 43,000. These increases have caused widespread discontent and added to the financial burden already on students due to the high cost of living.Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education has admitted that many public universities are cash-strapped. Institutions are struggling to meet salary obligations, fund academic programmes and maintain infrastructure. This has forced universities to look for alternative sources of revenue including adjusting student housing fees.
Senator Sifuna asked the Education Committee to summon university management boards and relevant regulatory bodies to explain the new fee structures. He emphasized the need for accountability in public institutions and said access to affordable and safe accommodation is a fundamental right for all students pursuing higher education.
Surging Hostel Fees Forcing Students Into Slums
