According to the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) report for 2021, Kakamega and Bungoma Counties have the highest number of beneficiaries of students' loans.

The reports say the government spends Sh14.4 billion to fund 354,069 students in the public university, indicating counties in North Eastern and Coast got the lowest number of beneficiaries.

The report shows Kakamega County at the top. with 23,967 beneficiaries in public universities getting Sh870.93 million loans in the year 2020/2021.

Bungoma County comes in second where 18,116 students got Sh725.06 million while Nakuru is third with 16,888 students getting Sh684.9 million.

Homa Bay comes in fourth with 16,811 learners benefiting from Sh698.41 million. 

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Kisii, which has 16,753 beneficiaries, closes the top five counties and gets Sh679.47 million.

Bomet has 13,204, Siaya has 13,141, Kisumu 12,969 while 12, 210 students from Nairobi benefited from the loan.

 Chief Executive Officer Charles Ringera said the fund has been working with counties to support students from their regions. 

“We have been giving them analyses of courses being studied by these students,” he said.

Other counties that have 10,000 beneficiaries of the HELB loan include Makueni (11,609), Kericho (11,885), Meru (11,039), Uasin Gishu (11,198), Kitui (10,714) and Migori (10,476).

Machakos, Trans Nzoia, Nyamira, Busia, Nandi, and Muranga counties have an estimated number of 9,000 beneficiaries.

Counties with the least beneficiaries include Garissa, which has 71, Mandera 72, Tana River 272, while Isiolo closes the bottom five with 268 students who benefited from HELB loans.

Lamu County has 284, Marsabit 523, Samburu 863, closing the gap as counties with less than 1000 beneficiaries.

HELB currently sponsors students both in public and private universities following president Kenyatta's directive.

However, legislators currently called for a dismissal of the policy because of the financial constraints facing the public universities.