Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has announced severe austerity measures for Kenyan public universities, including potential mass layoffs, campus closures, and a shift away from fully government-funded university education due to a severe financial crisis.

• The government owes universities over Ksh4 billion (approximately $30 million USD) in unpaid dues, attributed to the past policy of what Mbadi termed "free" education since 2016.
• Treasury CS John Mbadi, while appearing before the National Assembly’s Committee on Education on Thursday, July 24, outlined a new funding model shifting costs to parents.
• Proposed strategies include reducing administrative costs, staff resizing, outsourcing services, and rationalizing satellite campuses, with the government also considering requiring students to pay registration fees for national examinations.