The Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) has disclosed that Kenyans owe more than Ksh.40 billion in unpaid student loans dating back over two decades, posing a major challenge to higher education financing in the country.
The HELB Chief Executive Officer, Geoffrey Monari, said the unpaid loans stretch from recent graduates to those who completed their studies over 20 years ago. He noted that 51,594 individuals who graduated more than two decades ago owe Ksh.8 billion, while 23,786 borrowers from 17 to 12 years ago owe Ksh.6.6 billion. The largest chunk, Ksh.26 billion, is held by approximately 230,000 borrowers who graduated within the past 11 years.
“These individuals are in between jobs or still settling down,” Monari explained, attributing part of the problem to difficulties in tracing defaulters due to informal employment and lack of structured repayment enforcement in the private sector.
According to Monari, the default rate varies across professions. Teachers lead in repayment compliance, with 44,000 actively repaying and only 3,500 in default. In contrast, of the over 23,000 lawyers who received loans, only 2,644 have repaid. Among the 24,883 engineers funded by HELB, just 1,594 have cleared their loans and only 894 are currently making payments.
The figures are equally concerning in the medical and accounting fields. Only 18% of practicing doctors are repaying their loans, with 11,701 in default. Among accountants, 2,420 are repaying and 2,000 have fully paid off their loans, out of a total of 22,000 professionals.
HELB loans are offered to university and college students at an annual interest rate of 4%, with repayment expected to begin after graduation. However, enforcement has remained difficult, particularly in tracking graduates outside formal employment structures.
The growing number of defaulters has prompted HELB to blacklist 71,806 individuals as part of its ongoing recovery efforts.
CEO Monari emphasized the magnitude of the problem, noting that the outstanding Ksh.40 billion could finance the education of approximately 289,000 students for one academic year. “Recovering this money is not just about accountability, it’s about ensuring other students have access to the same opportunities,” he said.
Written By Rodney Mbua
