How 16% VAT will Affect Students

On Saturday the 16% VAT on all petroleum products took effect and the effects have been widely witnessed or rather felt across the Nation, the Move which has resulted to a rise in price on petrol, diesel, and paraffin has been condemned strongly by Kenyans all over the country who feel that it has led to an increased cost of living already. but just how will this move affect you as a student?

Well, many campus students don’t stay with their Parents during their time in school and even to those who do, the heat will also be felt. going to classes for those who don’t use the hostels and come from a distance which is a little bit far from school will be costly,  this is after the bus fare for most of the PSV vehicles has already gone up to balance the profit they make with the amount they will use on fuel, so if you are used to paying 50 shillings for bus fare, chances are that the price will rise a little bit. That means you will have to dig deep into your pocket and use money that you had planned for something else because we all know that being in campus you have to leave on a tight budget.

Food commodities will also increase in price, remember the shopkeepers or that vegetable vendor that you usually buy groceries from has to travel to the market for those goods and since there is an increase in bus fare, she too won’t want to make a loss hence an increase on the vegetable prices. So if you spend a thousand Bob a week, that one thousand shilling could end up not sustaining you for that period of time any more,  this means that you will also have to cut on your budget to survive for the entire period you will be in school.

Another thing is that most of the students depend on their parents for pocket money and every time you call home when you are broke most of the times the response you get is an explanation of how times are tough and that you should learn to manage whatever little you have properly, well now you’ll leave home knowing the condition in which your Parents or guardians are in financially and the only call they’ll want to get is you asking for bus fare at the end of the semester to come home.

Most campus students struggle to survive in campus, with others juggling between work and books just to ensure that all their needs are met, life is already costly in universities and with this increase, things are just about to get worse. To ensure that your budget takes you to the end of the semester then you’ll probably need to sit down and redraft your budget so that whatever little you have caters for all your needs.    

By; Brian Amwai