The Price of a Degree: How Students in Kazakhstan Pay for University

Around 678,000 people study at universities in Kazakhstan. Some receive government grants, while others must pay their own tuition. For those without a full grant, Kazakhstan formally offers partial grants, education savings accounts and subsidized loans. But which of these mechanisms actually work, and under what conditions do students have to pay for higher education? Orda.kz examined the system.

In 2022, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev proposed introducing grants covering between 30% and 100% of tuition, as well as preferential education loans at annual interest rates of 2–3%.

The idea was later included in Kazakhstan’s Higher Education Development Concept for 2023–2029. The mechanism was supposed to be formalized by September 2024.

Since then, the Science Ministry has sometimes said that preferential lending was still being introduced and at other times described it as already implemented.

The situation with partial grants is clearer. Finding an education loan at 2–3%, however, is now almost impossible.

A Loan That Does Not Exist

In theory, there are two ways to pay tuition with borrowed money: obtain an education loan backed by a state guarantee from the Financial Center or take out an ordinary consumer loan.

The first option has barely worked in recent years.

The Financial Center was the only organization that provided substantive answers to Orda.kz’s questions about the mechanism. Some questions were forwarded to the Science Ministry.

The state guarantee system has existed since 2005. But according to the Financial Center, partner banks have not submitted a single new guarantee application since 2023.

The guarantor received no applications from creditors during the requested period. Consequently, no guarantee obligations were issued between 2023 and 2026,the organization said.

The mechanism was still operating at least until the end of 2022. In July 2021, the ministry reported that 7,287 students had received loans backed by Financial Center guarantees.

The organization did not provide more recent consolidated figures on the total number of borrowers.

It said that four banks applied for guarantees between 2018 and 2022:

• Bereke Bank — 82 applications;
• ForteBank — 22;
• Nurbank — 13;
• Tengri Bank — 16.

Tengri Bank is now being liquidated. The response did not include a breakdown by year or complete statistics from the launch of the program, making it difficult to determine whether demand for guarantees had been rising or falling.

Halyk Bank, ForteBank, Bereke Bank and Nurbank formally remain participants in the state guarantee program. But at the time of publication, Orda.kz could not find individual education loans on their websites or obtain one through their customer-service lines.

Nurbank still mentions an education loan in its tariffs. Its call center, however, told an Orda.kz correspondent that the bank does not currently offer such a product.

Even when available, the state guarantee itself does not reduce the interest rate. The bank still determines the price of the loan.

Interest rates, assessments of borrowers’ solvency and financing conditions are governed exclusively by the internal credit policies of each second-tier bank,the Financial Center said.

Students who need to borrow money for tuition are therefore left with ordinary consumer loans on market terms. The government’s promised education loans at 2–3% remain largely confined to policy documents and official reports.

Old Education Debts Are Still Being Collected

Although partner banks have not applied for new guarantees since 2023, the Financial Center continues to collect debts under loans issued in previous years.

If a student stops making payments, the organization reimburses the bank for the outstanding principal and then seeks to recover that amount from the borrower.

Between 2008 and 2026, courts issued 339 rulings on such claims. Of these, 312 have already been enforced, while another 25 cases remain with private bailiffs. Proceedings involving two borrowers were closed after their deaths.

Studying at Someone Else’s Expense

The adoption of Kazakhstan’s new Constitution did not eliminate the right to free higher education. Article 33 preserves that right, although in more precise terms: citizens may receive higher education free of charge on a competitive basis.

In practice, this means obtaining a government grant.

Education funded through such a grant is free for the student, but the tuition is paid from the state budget — in other words, by taxpayers. Alongside the main national competition, regional administrations offer grants for specialties needed in their areas. Kazakhstan also has partial grants covering half of the tuition.

The student must pay the remaining amount or apply for a separate interest-free government loan.

Families can also save for education through the AQYL and Keleshek systems. Under both programs, parents or relatives deposit money into a dedicated account, while the state adds an annual premium. The difference is that Keleshek also provides starting capital for children who turn five during the relevant calendar year.

Kazakhstan therefore offers several ways to make higher education more accessible: full grants, partial funding, savings programs and loans.

But each mechanism has its own price. A government grant may carry a post-graduation work obligation. A partial grant still leaves half the tuition to be paid. Savings programs require families to contribute money in advance, while any loan eventually has to be repaid.

And the preferential education loan announced at 2–3% remains the option students are least likely to find.

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