EDUCATIONAL PLANNING: ANALYSIS OF COST-SHARING POLICY IN KENYAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES

Abstract

This paper analyzes cost-sharing policy which was implemented by the Kenyan Government as a strategy to deal with the financial crisis that faced public universities in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Confronted by a decline in economic growth, and other urgent and competing social needs like health, as well as pressure from international organization characterized by the infamous Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs), it was inevitable to distribute between the Government and the students, the costs of public university education. Considering the undisputed role of education in sustainable economic development, strict adherence to policy planning apparatus is important to achieve optimal rates of returns to education. By applying Haddad and Demsky’s educational policyplanning cycle, a critical analysis of the cost-sharing policy from its conceptualization to its application is discussed. It is noted that although the policy was inevitable considering the prevailing economic conditions, proper and effective adherence to the planning cycle was not fully followed. As a result, the policy was received with hostility by parents and students.