HELB Announces 80% Waiver To Defaulters, Sets New Target
The Higher Education debts Board (HELB) has increased its efforts to recover billions in outstanding student debts with a new offer that targets defaulters with substantial penalty waivers.
In an announcement released on Wednesday, July 16, HELB stated that recipients would receive an 80% waiver if they paid their outstanding bills in lump sum payments.
“Settle your HELB loan with ease! Pay your balance in a lump sum today and enjoy up to 80% waiver on accrued penalties,” HELB revealed in its statement.
As part of a deliberate yet incentivized recovery strategy, HELB encouraged customers who wanted to pay their loans swiftly to contact the board directly for a more personalized offer.
Settle your HELB loan with ease! Pay your balance in a lump sum today and enjoy up to 80% waiver on accrued penalties.
— OFFICIAL HELB PAGE (@HELBpage) July 16, 2025
DM us now to get your personalized offer. pic.twitter.com/LdgpBPs2jg
However, HELB did not specify the period of the offer, implying that students had enough time to take advantage of the waiver.
The new endeavor is part of a larger rehabilitation push by HELB.
This comes after claims that the board traced and re-engaged over 17,000 defaulters, recovering KSh5.2 billion within a year.
In March, HELB issued a seven-day ultimatum to defaulters, warning that further defaults would result in action against their guarantors.
These recovery methods would include tracing graduates through a variety of channels.
This contains graduation lists, employers, and government databases of former students who have become civil workers.
Regarding HELB operations, CEO Charles Ringera stated that the board was taking a more data-driven approach.
They also intend to use government-backed tracing techniques and cooperation with financial institutions to locate and recover monies from borrowers in Kenya and overseas.
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On Tuesday, Monari hinted at a potential catastrophe in higher education, revealing a large cash shortfall for student loans this year.
HELB allegedly received Ksh26 billion for the fiscal year 2025/2026, significantly short of the Ksh48 billion the board estimates is required to grant loans to students from low-income households seeking higher education.
“We paid upkeep for some, but not tuition. Second semester is worse, we haven’t paid tuition at all,” Monari noted.
“Universities and TVETs are bleeding. We avoided protests, but the money is simply not enough.”
HELB Announces 80% Waiver To Defaulters, Sets New Target
