RECENTLY, the authorities of the University of Ibadan announced that the acceptance fees for the university had been increased from N37,000 to N50,000. The acceptance fee is the levy collected by the school from students to show they have agreed to be admitted into the school. The school fees ranges from N34,300 to N36,800 for old and new students, according to students. It is not debatable that with the increase in the acceptance fees, school fees might also rise as from next session. Many find this idea of schools collecting acceptance fees laughable, wondering why students need to pay to receive admission after having paid to sit for some multiple examinations before being admitted to a university. Why can’t a letter of admission suffice? By multiple examinations, I am referring to the exams usually set by the West African Examination Council popularly called WAEC, the one set by the National Examination Council known as NECO, and the one set by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) known as the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination. Apart from these exams, each university organises a post-UTME examination or screening. The examination is not free. For the acceptance fees to be this high, it automatically means school fees, hostel fees, faculty fees and departmental fees will all likely increase too. This doesn’t include money for books and general upkeep of these students.
The University of Ibadan is not the only school that increased its fees this year. For example, the Federal University, Dutse, also increased its fees, though students can pay in two instalments of 60 percent and 40 percent respectively. The University of Maiduguri also increased its fees; the fees are now between N131,500 and N252,00 for new students and N112,00 and N258,000 for old students. The University of Uyo’s fees are now between N100,000 and N107,750. The Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, blamed the hike in its fees on the increasing cost of providing services. This is to mention just a few. State universities are tripling their fees, not to mention private universities whose fees run into millions of naira per session. Sometime ago, the authorities of The Polytechnic, Ibadan, declared that students who weren’t living in hostels should be paying hostel fees. The fee, which was formerly N5,000, was raised to N15,000. This enraged students and they kicked against it.
Of course, nobody can clamour for free university education at this time and age. The reality of the matter is there is no country in the world that makes university education free. But many countries offer student loans and often, students are allowed to work for some hours in a week to be able to fend for themselves. Such programmes enable students to improve their vocational skills in the university, earn some stipends and still attend classes. Such programmes aren’t applicable in most schools here even as the government is still lagging behind in providing basic amenities. A school recently began such a programme and that is the Olabisi Onabanjo Univeristy, Ago Iwoye. The school introduced a programme to boost the employment of students on campus and also to reduce the alarming attrition rate. It is believed that this will enable students whose parents aren’t very rich to shoulder the responsibility of paying fees, thereby helping their parents and also themselves in the process. Some schools like the University of Ibadan are now establishing distance learning centres that enable students to study and work as part-time students.
Many students are dropping out of higher institutions these days. A lot of parents can’t afford the tuition and other charges putting the minimum wage into consideration and the way things are so costly generally. The cost of running these universities is on the increase on a daily basis. Many schools are fighting so hard to retain their staff even now that many academics are leaving the country to seek greener pastures due to low salary structure and unfavourable conditions of employment compared to other countries of the world. It is obvious that the fees paid by students help the government to offset the high costs needed to maintain quality higher education as it is done in other countries. The sad part is that if the fees are too high, many high school graduates will not be able to proceed to the university or polytechnic. Other countries put in support schemes just like the university in Ogun State did by creating jobs for students.
Every Nigerian can testify that things have become very costly in the country but that shouldn’t stop our children from getting quality education. All countries use fees to ensure that institutions have sufficient revenues to provide wide access to study and Nigeria is doing this also. All it needs is proper planning. Nigerians should understand that all over the world, education is largely paid for. The government and individuals must come together to make it easy for the youth to get not just any kind of education but a sound one which will make them compete favourably with others in the world market.
That’s why we have to be intentional about how to make this easy for us and how to make sure it works. Government should make university education affordable and accessible to all students who want it despite their parents’ social status. Government can also make life easy for university lecturers by paying them their salaries and arrears regularly and promptly to curb the rate of migration . What good is having students but no one to teach? The infrastructural aspect should also be looked into as many federal universities have very old buildings and need new ones. Facilities should be made up-to-date. Fees should not be too outrageous. Education loans and scholarships for brilliant students should be made a priority. We have to be intentional about making access to higher education a priority and very affordable.
- Ishola is on the staff of Nigerian Tribune
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