By Olakunle Olafioye
The suspension of academic activities in two state-owned tertiary institutions in Ondo State recently was a further indication of the growing discontent among students of tertiary institutions over exorbitant tuition fees in Nigeria.
The Registrar, Ondo State University of Science and Technology, OSUSTECH, Felix Akinusi, had disclosed in a statement that the institution’s Senate resolved to shut it indefinitely, to prevent a breakdown of law and order.
Prior to this, the students had protested the school management’s insistence that they should continue to pay the new tuition, which ranges from N150, 000 to N200, 000 per session, depending on a student’s state of origin.
The tuition fee, Sunday Sun learnt, was less than N100,000 before the management increased it last academic session, with an assurance that it would be reduced the following session. This was however not to be, a situation which gave rise to the protest by the students.
A few weeks earlier, the Vice Chancellor of Federal University Oye-Ekiti, Prof. Kayode Shoremekun, had threatened to withdraw the studentship of over 15,000 out of the 17,000 students of the institution, who were yet to pay their school fees at the time.
Findings by Sunday Sun showed that the school charges its students over N100, 000 as tuition fee excluding other ancillary charges. Some students in the school hinged the inability of the over 80 percent of the students to pay their tuition fees at the time on the high fees charged by the institution.
At Osun State University, OSU, the management of the institution appeared more circumspect with the tuition fees charged by the institution. The management of the state-owned university, it was gathered, deliberately delayed the announcement of the tuition fees for new entrants in the ongoing academic session until all ancillary fees, which ran into N100,000 had been paid. By the time the actual tuition fee of N205, 000, was announced, a good number of the new students found it beyond the reach of their parents. The development was said to have compelled the school authorities to extend the commencement of the first semester examination by two weeks with a view to enable more students pay their tuition fees. But the decision, it was gathered, yielded no result as many of the students rather withdrew voluntarily.
Some parents who are aggrieved by the approach adopted by the school to compel the students to pay the high tuition fee described it as exploitative.
“This is pure exploitation. For a very long time before the portal was opened for the payment of tuition fee for this session, the school management made us to believe that the school fees would not be different from the amount paid last session, which was N103, 000. This amount was left on the school website until all ancillary charges had been paid. We were later shocked when it was increased by almost 100 per cent,” an aggrieved parent who craved anonymity said.
Findings by Sunday Sun revealed that OSU is one of the least populated schools in the country owing to its prohibitive tuition fee. A competent source in the school, who pleaded for anonymity blamed the low number of students admitted into the school on the prohibitive tuition fee charged by the school.
While most of the affected schools are from the South West, findings by Sunday Sun showed that tuition fees in most of the state-owned tertiary institutions in the country are always priced far above what federal institutions in the country charge their students. For instance, while new entrants at the University of Lagos, pay between N50, 000 and N55, 000 as tuition fees in the ongoing academic session, OSU charges N205,000 as tuition fee.
In the South East, while new entrants at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, UNIZIK, pay between N65,920 for sciences and N60,920 for non-sciences, their counterparts at Anambra State University pay N139,000. In the North Central zone, whereas University of Ilorin charged fresh students N75,000, new entrants who are non-indigenes at Plateau State University paid N100, 000 while Plateau indigenes pay N50,000. In the South-south geopolitical zone, fresh students at UNIPORT pay between N97,000 and 127,000 depending on their on the course of study whereas in Cross River State University (CRUSTECH), freshmen are billed N83, 000.
Speaking on the dilemma of students whose admission are under threat following their inability to pay the tuition fees charged by their respective schools, an educationist and coordinator, Unique Scholars Education Centre, Mr. Isaiah Oladele, blamed students for choosing schools without getting adequate information on the affordability of such schools.
His words: “There are over 200 public tertiary institutions which candidates seeking admission to tertiary institutions can choose from across Nigeria.
“When taking decisions on the choice of school to apply to, a lot of factors must be considered. Such factors include availability of a course one intends to study, tuition fee, smoothness of the school calendar, catchment area, JAMB scores, proximity, and security among others.
“Candidates from poor backgrounds will save themselves a lot of trouble if they make federal universities their first choice because of their lower school fees. The average tuition fee of federal tertiary institutions in the country is in the region of N50,000 while some state-owned universities charge as high as N250, 000.
“Ironically, however, a good number of candidates who secure admission into these high-fee charging state schools are from poor homes, a situation which is largely responsible for the inability of most of them to continue with or complete their programmes in such schools. On the other hand, a good number of those who find their way into federal universities with relatively lower school fees are often from rich homes, whose parents can afford to pay more or even capable of sending them to private schools.
“Most of the students, who apply for admission to these expensive state schools, do so because of their inability to get good grades in the Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination. For instance, to be certain of getting admission into highly rated federal universities such as University of Ilorin, Obafemi Awolowo University, University of Lagos, University of Benin, and other first generation universities, such candidates must score not less than 250 in JAMB.
“A student who scores just a little above 200 will only brighten his or her chances of getting admission by changing his institution of choice to a state owned university. Of course, many of them take that decision without considering the financial implications of getting admitted into such school. This explains reason for the problem they are facing.”
Speaking in similar vein, a guidance counselor and educationist, Mrs. Afusat Lawal, called on the government to be more humane in imposing educational levies, saying education is the least favour any serious government could do to the people.
“The exorbitant school fees which are charged by most tertiary institutions owned by the government, particularly the state-owned schools is a major source of worry. It is worrisome because it is one of the leading causes of school calendar disruptions and unrest by students of tertiary institutions just as we are witnessing in some schools now. This, in my own view, should worry every one of us because of its long-term effect on our society. Our universities continue to turn our school dropouts, not because they cannot cope academically but because their parents cannot afford to finance their education.
“If we must tell ourselves the truth, the majority of these dropouts will consider taking the option of learning a trade, which is very demeaning after getting exposed to the excitement and the joy of attending a university.
“A situation like this portends serious problem for the nation. The minutest favour any good government can do for the people is to make education accessible at all level. I am not advocating totally free education as we used to have in the South West in the past. But government can make education more accessible to the people if they make it affordable.
“Finally, my advice to students seeking admission into our universities and polytechnics is to settle for schools they consider affordable. It is very unwise to pick a school they know their parents cannot afford to pay the tuition fees,” Lawal advised.