Loans are never a welcome thing, especially when it comes to repaying them. I want to talk to those in campus right now, specifically public universities. Those who access HELB as it is famously known. It is a loan from The Higher Education Loans Board. Let me remind you, the funding is called HELB LOAN. Clearly from the name, it is a loan and will have to repayed sooner than later.
I did not get the privilege to access this loan because at the time it was hard to acquire one if you joined a private university but mostly because my father has loan phobia. He always fears his title deed could be taken in the event he fails to pay the loan on time.
However I have friends who got these loans and they lived on campus. These guys kept complaining the way the money was not enough. It was a right after all, was it not? Allan for instance, (I visited him last month again) has been a close friend of mine for long. He went to the University of Nairobi and was living in Hall 4 in a spacious room. I used to visit him quite often.
Allan used to cook eveything using electricity, boil water whenever he wanted and even leave the electric coil on to warm the room in the cold season. I was not used to that so whenever I asked, he’d throw up his left hand and quip a ”mali ya gava” (Government property). I visited him over the Easter weekend and I was quite amused by the way he kept complaining how electricity was so expensive. He actually takes his black tea half cooked now, to save electricity. He told me he straightens his clothes only when necessary.
Didn’t know it was a loan
We had a lengthy catch-up discussion on life. Its been a whole year. He asked me why I wasted money studying Information Technology and I spend all my time writing. I could not answer him satisfactorily, because I did not have a good explanation to that anyway.
“I read pesatalk.com, you guys are really helping some of us out here man.” He said. It seemed genuine.
“Yeah, you really need to know how to manage you Financial life while still young.”
“Yeah.” He agreed. “By the way, umeanza kulipa loan ya Helb?”
I told him I did not have a loan to pay. Allan went ahead to tell me he never really thought it was a serious loan, that someday he would be asked to pay.
“So kila msee hupay hiyo loan?” I told him everything I knew about it. (Read:You Wont Get a Bank Loan if you Owe HELB).
The idea of repaying a loan he squandered devastated my friend. I could understand his pain. I did not know what it felt like. I was with him though, on those many first few Fridays of the semester when ‘Helb’ checked in and we ran the town. I consoled him, it was not a lot of money. The average comes to about Kshs 200,000 and a small interest on the amount, which would put it at a staggering Kshs 300,000.
Loans
So folks, Helb is a loan. When you apply for it, be cautious. When it gets to your bank account, handle it with all the caution you would do with any other loan. It will otherwise come to haunt you when you need to have your Financial books clean for future development. You should also learn how to limit misuse of resources, it will train you earlier in life how to save on utility bills when things will not be ”mali ya gava” any more.
Meanwhile, those friends still in campus (public university) use the resources cautiously while it lasts. There is a proposal to replace the Act of Parliament that establishes the Seven Kenyan public universities with University Charters. That would change the way business is run, money wise.