Parents and students of the University of Medical Sciences Teaching Hospital have expressed shock over the hike in tuition fees to be paid by students.
In the new fee scheduled released by the school management, the fees to be paid by non-indigenous students are 59 percent higher than fees to be paid by indigenous students.
Non-indigenous students studying medicine in pre-clinical year are to pay N2.245m per session while indigenous students are to pay N1.320m per session.
The courses with low fees are Biochemistry and Physiology in which non-indigenous students are to pay N400,000 while indigenous are to pay N350,000 per session.
Those to study Dentistry in the preclinical years would pay N2.245m for non-indigenous and N1.320m for indigenous students.
Some parents who spoke on condition of anonymity said they would have to begin preparation to withdraw their children from the school if the published fees schedule was a reality.
One parent simply said, “There will be mass withdrawal.It is not realistic. Mass withdrawal is looming in the school. We were paying N350,000 and it was difficult to pay.
“We know Medicine is not cheap but this is on the high side. Other state schools are running medicine but their fees are not as high as N2m.”
Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Adesegun Fatusi, said there was no going back on the new fee schedule.
Fatusi said parents were free to withdraw their children if they could not pay but added that the new fee was for students to be admitted in the new academic session.