Chuka University’s 30,000 students are about to transform Ndagani

A record intake of more than 9,150 first-year students is turning a university town into one of central Kenya’s most dynamic local economies — but the vice chancellor has a warning for landlords

By Dennis Mutua

Chuka University’s student population is set to reach 30,000 following the admission of more than 9,150 first-year students yesterday, a record intake that Vice Chancellor Henry Mutembei says will pump millions of shillings daily into the economy of the university’s host town of Ndagani in Tharaka Nithi County.

The numbers are striking in their simplicity. “If each of them spends KSh10, that translates to KSh3 million injected into the local economy, which is a big boost,” Mutembei told journalists as the university’s admission exercise got under way. Scale that modest figure upward to the actual daily expenditure of 30,000 young people buying food, paying rent, using transport and purchasing everyday necessities, and the economic argument for treating the university as a community asset becomes impossible to dismiss.

By the close of business yesterday, close to 6,000 students had been admitted, with the process continuing through to the target of 9,150. The new cohort will push the university’s total population to approximately 30,000 — a figure that places Chuka among the country’s top four universities by first-year admissions this year, behind Kenyatta University, Maseno University and the University of Nairobi. It is, as Mutembei put it with characteristic directness, a move into a higher league.

The ripple effects for Ndagani are already visible. Demand for student accommodation, food outlets, retail goods, public transport and other services rises sharply with each new intake, and the current numbers represent the largest influx the town has absorbed. For traders, hostel owners and small business operators who depend on the university community for their livelihoods, the surge is welcome news.

Mutembei, however, had a specific message for private hostel owners: the increased demand is not an invitation to raise rents. He was direct and unambiguous on the point. “We need to work collaboratively with our students and student leaders to ensure there is no taking advantage of these students, especially in terms of rent fees,” he said, adding that the economic pressures felt by landlords are shared by the parents struggling to finance their children’s university education. He urged hostel owners to count their blessings — noting that their properties are now fully occupied, unlike in previous years when they competed for a smaller student pool — and to respond with fairness rather than opportunism.

It is a tension familiar to every university town: the same growth that creates prosperity for local businesses can, if unmanaged, place students in genuinely difficult circumstances, undermining the educational environment the university is trying to sustain. Mutembei’s public call for restraint is an attempt to get ahead of that dynamic before it takes hold.

On the physical environment, the partnership between Chuka University and the Tharaka Nithi County Government drew specific praise from the vice chancellor. He highlighted the newly developed Ndagani Market as a practical example of what collaborative investment in university towns can produce — a clean, modern facility where students can purchase food and other essentials while local traders benefit from reliable, concentrated footfall. It is the kind of infrastructure that makes a town genuinely liveable for a large student population rather than merely adjacent to one.

This year’s admission exercise was also notably smoother than in previous years. The digitalised self-admission process — which allows students to complete significant portions of their registration online before arriving on campus — reduced the long queues that have historically characterised the first days of university intake across the country. Mutembei attributed the improvement directly to the digital system, and the contrast with previous years was visible.

One area of ongoing uncertainty is the new higher education funding model, which requires a household contribution from parents alongside government support. Mutembei acknowledged that confusion persists around how the model operates and what parents are required to pay. The university has responded pragmatically, allowing all students to proceed with admission on whatever amounts they have paid while awaiting further government guidance. He urged parents who can afford to contribute to do so willingly, framing it as both a responsibility and an investment — and encouraged students from needy backgrounds to access support through the Higher Education Loans Board.

Ndagani is no longer simply a town that hosts a university. With 30,000 students on its doorstep, it is becoming something more substantial — a growing economic hub whose fortunes are tied, for better or worse, to the institution at its centre.

The challenge now is making sure that growth works for everyone: the students, the traders, the landlords, and the community that will live with its consequences long after each graduating class has moved on.

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Dennis Mutua

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