Students from wealthy families will pay more for their education at public universities, in the latest effort to alleviate the institutions' severe cash shortage and reduce their reliance on the Treasury.

The University Funding Board (UFB), the State agency in charge of allocating student funds to universities, is advocating for a reduction in government funding for rich children attending universities.

The review will also affect government-sponsored students at private universities who receive at least Sh70,000 per year depending on the course they are pursuing, regardless of their income status.

Under the current funding model, the government is expected to pay 80 percent of the cost of degrees per student, with students at public universities paying about Sh28,000 per year. With the support of the Treasury and university vice-chancellors, the funding board wants the allocations reviewed to reflect the students' income status.

In recent years, public universities have faced financial strain as a result of rapid expansion amid reduced State funding and a sharp drop in enrolment on self-sponsored programs following the government's decision to fully fund students scoring the minimum C+ entry grade and above in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams.

Students enrolled in parallel degree courses have generated billions of shillings for the institutions over the years because they pay the full cost of programs such as medicine, which can cost more than Sh600,000 per year.