Students say their HELB loans and upkeep money from parents have completely run out. With campuses closed and no clear updates from student leaders or the administration, many are stranded and uncertain about their next move. One student in Eldoret said, “We used all the HELB money in the first month. Now we are broke, and no one is telling us when this strike will end.”
The situation is most visible in public universities like Moi University, the University of Nairobi, and Kenyatta University, where thousands of students rely entirely on HELB for food, rent, and transport.The crisis began soon after the strike was declared, leaving students idle and financially stranded. With each passing week, their savings shrink and debts grow.
Is education still a right or a privilege in Kenya today?
Because no side, not the administration, not the government, and not the student union, has provided a clear way forward. “We are just waiting in darkness,” Another student from MOI university said, “If they think that we are grown up people and we can decide things on our own then they should know that suicide, teenage pregnancies and depression is part of the deal,we really need a guide it’s school that shapes us, some of our parents even stopped checking up on us everyone thinks we are grown up and that we can fix things in our own,they are all wrong we need things working”.
Without funds, many students have been forced to skip meals, move out of hostels, or borrow from friends. Others are anxious about whether the semester will even continue. A parent from Bungoma commented, “We gave upkeep once, but with the strike still on, there’s no more to send. We are also struggling.”
A higher education analyst in Nairobi said, “This situation reveals how financially fragile many students are. HELB is not designed to support months of inactivity, so a prolonged strike leaves them extremely vulnerable.”Economists also warn that if strikes persist, some students may drop out altogether due to financial exhaustion. For now, comrades continue to wait, hungry, broke, and uncertain. HELB funds are gone, parental support is exhausted, and no one seems to have answers. The silence from leadership has only deepened the frustration, leaving students wondering when or if their academic life will return to normal.
Dr.Constantine Wesonga says,”only a bank alert can make us reconsider, and if not prepare for a long strike, we want 7.9 billion, not 2.3billion”.
By Modester Nasimiyu