Assessing the Factors Influencing Allocation and Disbursement of Constituency Bursary Funds to Neeedy Students in Kikuyu Sub-county, Kenya

Abstract

The study assessed some of the factors that determine the allocation and disbursement of bursary to needy students from Kikuyu Sub-county in Kiambu County. The study focused on examining the criteria used to award bursaries, the factors that influence the disbursement of bursaries to applicants and extent to which gender factors influence the allocation and disbursement of bursaries to needy students. The study was guided by Human Capital Theory. The study adopted a cross sectional descriptive survey design and data was gathered from 40 purposively sampled students both successful and unsuccessful bursary applicants. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze data by use of frequencies and percentages. The findings of this study showed that there was a significant relationship between gender and bursary allocation, boys tends to benefit more as compared to girls. Factors such as delayed disbursement of funds caused by bureaucracies and embezzlement resulted in many applicants dropping out of the schools. The study also revealed that Inconsistency in allocation/disbursement of bursaries to applicants affected the continuity of applicant’s education since most of them took long to complete their education due to the on and off school attendance. Political interference seemed to really pose challenges to the bursary allocation and disbursement process; most of the beneficiaries were relatives to the CDF committee members and the CDF patron’s affiliates. From the findings of the study, it was recommended that there be an increase of funds from the national government to the constituencies to facilitate and ensure consistency in the allocation of the bursaries to curb drop-out rates among students in the Sub- County. Further studies on the whole issue of bursary scheme should be carried out to check on retention and access of funds by applicants and also a research on the educational completion of bursary funded students should be recommended to be carried out too.