THE RATE OF INCREMENT IN THE FEES OF PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES IN NIGERIA

By Femi Akinpelu Joseph

It is a fact that private institutions in Nigeria charge their students very highly in terms of tuition and other basic registration fees. 

However, more interesting to know is that most of these institutions also increase their fees at regular basis, for some of them, the increment comes yearly, while others effect this once in every two sessions and so on.

We therefore came up with a list of Nigerian private universities with comparison between the different rates of their fees, before now and currently, after the increment.

Babcock gate

In Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun state -- as at 2014/2015 academic session, the students paid fees under different categories for instance, Economics 400 level (Off-campus) paid N452,000, (On-campus) N760,000; Medicine – 2 million plus; Computer Science – 670,000; Theology (Off-campus) 383,000, (On-campus) 530,000; Accounting 300 level- 972,000; Law 400 level -  867,000; Medical laboratory – 860,000.

And now prior to the new 2015/2016 academic session, the University management increased all the fees in various departments again. As at August 19,2015, this is what the Babcock fees now looks like --  Economics 400 level (Off-campus) 615,000, (On-campus) 907,000; Medicine – 3,000,000; Computer Science – 890,000; Theology (Off-campus) – 597,000, (On-campus) – 613,000; Accounting 300 level – 1,200,000; Law 400 level – 1 million plus; Medical laboratory – 1 million plus.

Adeleke University's gate

In Adeleke University, Ede, Osun state, in 2013/2014 session, the average fee paid by most students for tuition, accommodation and feeding (2 meals per day) was 450,000 (for levels 200-400), and 504,000 for the 100 level students (These, excluding Law and Engineering courses). And at the beginning of last (2014/2015) academic session, the average fee that the students paid got increased to 521,000 and 571,000 for 200 – 400 level students and 100 level students respectively, while the Law students were charged over 800,000, and Engineering students paid nothing less than 700,000. The latest but unconfirmed information coming from the institution also has it that the fees for the Engineering and Law courses  would be increased to 1 million and 1.2 million respectively in this new 2015/2016 session that commenced in early October 2015.

A building inside JABU campus

For the students of Joseph Ayo Babalola University (JABU), Ikeji-Arakeji, Osun State, the general fees for the science-based students as of the 2014/2015 session was 496,000, and now has increased to 517,000 (for the in-coming 100 level students) for the next 2015/2016 academic session. Other courses that had their fees increased for the prospective new students were Mass Communication, Entrepreneurship and English (from 496,500 to 517,000). The fee for the Law programme also had an increment from 650,000 to 700,000, and also a slight fee rise for the Arts-based students, from 476,500 to 497,000. Though the amount (496,000) for the last session remains the same for the returning (200-500 level) students.

Ajayi Crowther University's gate

At Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo town, Oyo State, the Science-based students pay between 502,000 to 510,000, while the Arts and Social sciences students pay about 480,000 per session. It was, therefore, noted that there has not been any increment in the fees of all the students in this institution since year 2011.  

Covenant University's entrance

According to a Mechanical Engineering student of Covenant university, he said as at last academic session, they (all students in his department) paid about 600,000, but now the fees has increased to 700,000 this new session.

Caleb University's gate

Also at Caleb University, Imota-Ikorodu, Lagos, findings from the students there also show an obvious increment in their fees from the coming session. As at 2014/2015 session, the student paid a unified amount of 505,000, while the freshers (the new 100 level students) paid 555,000.  Now all that has increased. Though, this increment was effected only by the hostel accommodation fee which was necessitated by the new hostel blocks built by the institution. The payment for the new session, however, is in different ranges, grouped into categories of students who wants one-bedded room (679,000) per session, two-bedded room (619,000), three-bedded room (529,000) and six-bedded room at (499,000) per session.