The Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) in Kenya is intensifying efforts to track down loan defaulters amid rising default rates that threaten the sustainability of the student loan fund.
The board has announced plans to collaborate with police and other law enforcement agencies to locate graduates who have not repaid their loans, both within Kenya and abroad.
HELB provides financial support to Kenyan students pursuing higher education, but a significant number of beneficiaries have defaulted on repayments.
As of recent reports, over 300,000 graduates have not started repaying their loans, representing a default rate of about 35% of all beneficiaries who have completed their studies.
The total outstanding debt is substantial, with billions of Kenyan shillings in non-performing loans.
For instance, by late 2020, more than Ksh 11.3 billion was in default out of a total loan portfolio of Ksh 45.5 billion
