WHY TUITION FEES INCREASE AT THIS TIME?

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By Bello Orwell

In this part of the world, we have never truly paid for or appreciated the education we are provided by the state. Education, especially at the tertiary level, has always been so cheap to the point that we don’t attach any value to it.

Now with the changing face of education financing and management in Nigeria, tertiary education is at a crossroads, on the verge of radical disruption – it may not be a surprise if it ends up like NITEL and some other agencies that the federal government could not sustain while at the same time those agencies continued to gulp billions of Naira without any visible return on investment.

WHY TUITION FEES INCREASE

In this piece, I am not out to justify the new increase in tuition fees by the management of Ahmadu Bello University. I don’t support it in any way or by any means, I am, however, interested in the changing face of educational financing and what it portends for equitable access to high-quality education in Nigeria and alternative financing pathways.

The general populist belief that the state must finance the whole bulk of public education at the tertiary level is now proving unrealistic.

However, it is still quite disappointing that universities like ABU will see an increase in tuition fees as a viable way to finance the institution. By the way, how much are students going to pay to run the university? Will N35,000.00, N45,000.00, or even N50,000.00 and the meager amount the university gets from the federal government settle her heavy bills?

That is a question for the management, but for now, it is obvious that things are getting out of hand since it has opted to increase tuition fees by a very large percentage.

When the tuition fee was around 20k, there were still many students who could not afford to pay without seeking help. Now it may be more difficult with this development. It is nothing strange, it is just a reflection of our reality as a polity.

But the puzzle remains – how would this category of students continue to have access to tertiary education against its rising cost? Will the university create jobs on campus for them to earn as they learn? Or will they be left alone to drop out of the university because they no longer can afford to pay fees?

These and many more questions should bother the management of ABU and other government-owned universities that face the dilemma of increasing tuition fees or shutting down.

However, for now, if the university wishes to take a more creative and entrepreneurial approach to its economic situation, it could look in the direction of creating business ventures that address its immediate economic crisis as well as create job opportunities for its multitude of students who are in dare need of help at this critical moment.

In this regard, I confidently believe every faculty has products or services that could be commercialized whether in the engineering, sciences, humanities, or the arts.

Towards the end of last year, Bayero University was in the news for unveiling a ‘15,000-student job scheme’ to create job opportunities for her financially disadvantaged students, if this is true it is a leaf that my beloved great ABU should borrow. For that is the only viable solution that promises mutual benefit to both the university and students.

At this point, no one should beg public universities to reduce tuition fees. No, public universities need more money like never before. The cost of educational resources has skyrocketed beyond reasonable proportions, so universities must be allowed to adjust accordingly.

I feel the major way we can support our universities is by paying more fees. Ironically, many of those who may disagree with this increase in fees are already collecting more than the new fees from their parents and guardians in the name of fees.

Within the same category of students, the smartphones we use could pay the new tuition fees of a student for more than a session. In the end, all that I demand to assist financially weak students is this on-campus job scheme – these students should be able to earn while they learn and at the same time generate revenue for the university.

–Bello is a staunch Abusite


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Chila Andrew Aondofa

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