Thousands of Kenya Medical Training College students are set to access government loans through the Higher Education Loans Board for the first time, following a directive by President William Ruto that brings medical trainees into the same funding framework as university and TVET students.
The breakthrough traces back to April 15, when Ruto visited KMTC Gucha Campus in Kisii County during a development tour. A student leader approached the President directly, arguing that KMTC learners faced the same financial hardships as their counterparts elsewhere yet remained locked out of HELB support. Ruto acted on the spot, instructing Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba to include KMTC students in the national student financing framework beginning the following semester.
More than two months later, Ruto confirmed the directive had been implemented while addressing the nation at State House on June 23 during the signing of the Finance Bill 2026.
“KMTC students are now eligible to apply for HELB funding. This was not the case in the past. But as I went around, specifically when I was at some point in Kisii, I remember one of the student leaders coming to me and telling me, ‘Mr President, we are as good as the other students in TVETs, colleges and those in universities.’ I am happy that I can respond positively to that student leader,” Ruto said.
KMTC, founded in 1927, is Kenya’s largest healthcare training institution with over 70 campuses nationwide. For years, its students largely depended on a limited revolving fund arrangement to finance their studies, leaving many from low-income backgrounds unable to complete their training — a gap that education stakeholders had long warned was undermining Kenya’s healthcare workforce.
The inclusion comes as the National Treasury has allocated a record KSh58 billion for student loans in the 2026/27 financial year, up sharply from KSh41 billion in the previous cycle, under the Student-Centred Funding Model that assesses household financial need.
KMTC confirmed on June 24 that applications will open once HELB formally releases the funding framework and announces the portal. Students applying for the first time will need their National ID, KCPE and KCSE index numbers, a passport-size photo, parent and guarantor details, and a registered bank account or M-Pesa number. Applications will be submitted through the Higher Education Financing portal.
The announcement also arrives as Parliament considers the Tertiary Education Placement and Funding Bill, which proposes merging HELB, the TVET Fund, the Universities Fund, and KUCCPS into a single body to streamline student support.
Education experts describe the KMTC inclusion as one of the most significant expansions of Kenya’s higher education financing programme in years, with the potential to improve retention rates and boost the country’s supply of nurses, clinical officers, and laboratory technicians.
