Students of the Babcock University in Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State, are up in arms over an increase in their fees. They say the hike is ‘steep’, but the university claims it is minimal, KOFOWOROLA BELO-OSAGIE and ADEGUNLE OLUGBAMILA report .
•Increment is minimal, says varsity
THESE are testy times at the Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State. The university and its students are on the warpath over the hike of fees. In protest, the students have taken to the social media to condemn the action. They claimed that under the new fee regime, medical students are now to pay N3 million; Nursing, N1 million; Law, N2 million; Accounting, N1.5 million and others, N860,000.
A 100-Level student who declined to reveal her identity in a posting on a popular online blog wrote: “I am a 100-Level Mass Communication student. I am going to 200-Level next semester, and my school fees now amount to N747,300 as against N584,000 I formerly paid. Babcock University is being run like a family business. With the new fees, now, I am scared to tell my dad. Suffice to say this is a faith-based university?”
A 400-Level Medical Laboratory Sciences student, wondered how from N560,000 she paid in 100-Level, it has skyrocketed to the current amount.
She said: “We in Medical Laboratory are, henceforth, to pay N1.5 million. I just thank God I’m in 400-Level. I have only one more year and I’m gone. If we protest (against the new fees) we will get suspended for two years or more. All we can do is cry inside and pray that God provides for our parents until we graduate. I started 100-Level with N560,000, but now it has skyrocketed. If I had known the school fees would increase this much, I would have settled for admission in a state or federal school, don’t blame us or call our parents dumb.”
An alumnus of the university, who simply identified herself as Odunpie, said as a student, she experienced such steep increase resulting in over N100,000 increment a year before she graduated.
“You students must learn to adapt. May God enrich your parents. I am also a graduate of Public Health of Babcock, 2012 set. When I was in 300-Level, N115,000 was added to our fees without any explanation My department then helped us to talk to the Bursar who promised to refund the money. But maybe it will be refunded tomorrow. That’s Babcock for you,” she said.
The university is aware of the students’ online protest and has debunked claims of steep fee increment. The Director, External and Community Affairs, Mr Joshua Suleiman, in a statement on the institution’s website, described the claim of steep increment as ‘false’.
The statement listed the fees the students are expected to pay as well as other charges, except for professional charges for some programmes. 100 and 200-Level students are to pay N380,000, 300 and 500-Level, N310,000, for all programmes except medicals.
It said Medical students are to pay N2 million and not N3 million for tuition, accommodation, meals, and laboratory. The statement added that Law students and their Accounting and Nursing counterparts are to pay N763,000 against the claim that they are to pay N2 million, N1.5 million and N1 million. The school described the increment as ‘minimal’.
The statement said the students’ claim of a huge increment was a de-marketing strategy to discredit the institution.
Contacted, the National Universities Commission (NUC) Executive Secretary Prof Julius Okojie said the regulatory body does not stipulate fees for private universities.
“The National Universities Commission does not have the power to regulate the fees charged by private universities. The commission acknowledges that education is capital intensive. However, NUC has always advised private universities not to overcharge their students because education is demand-driven and if they are too expensive, the students will not be able to access their services,” he said.
In an interview, a parent, who does not want his or his ward’s name in print, lamented the increase, which he said would further tax parents’ finances. He also blamed the indiscriminate fee increment on the failure of the public tertiary education system which has forced parents who could afford it to patronise private institutions.
He said: “If you have a child in an institution and all of a sudden fees are increased, will you be happy? Early or late last year, the students wanted to protest so they reduced it. If not we would have been paying over N1 million. I think I am paying N900,000 for now. We are at the mercy of private institutions because public institutions are failing us. That is why we go to schools where there is no strike, cultism or students’ unrest.
“These children enter school early nowadays. At the age they are getting into the university, you cannot allow them to go to public institutions because of concerns about cultism. But the private schools have rules and regulations to guide how they behave at every point in time, so your fears are reduced.”
Another parent, whose child also attends a private university, said any steep increase would be difficult to accept.
Prof Ernest Orji, who teaches at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile-Ife, Osun State described the new tuition fees as simply outrageous.
Orji whose first daughter Ernestine, 18, studies Medicine at the Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), said even the N750,000 he pays as tuition is by virtue of his position as an accomplished scholar. He wondered how he would have coped if the tuition is increased halfway into his daughter’s education.
“I think that amount to me is simply outrageous. Though here (OAU) is a public university, our students pay just N14,000 across all medical courses (excluding feeding and accommodation). But, if my daughter’s tuition is increased halfway, I won’t have a choice than to look for extra source to raise the money until she finishes, and then I may not try that school again for any of my children. But, I must say that even this N750,000 that I’m paying as her tuition, I’m only able to because of my privileged position as a professor.”
Dr Amos Adeowo, a medical doctor with two children at Babcock (one has graduated), sees no reason for complaints. Though he admitted that he was unaware of the hike in tuition, he said he would not raise eyebrows over it as the institution is private and does not owe any one any apology should it increase its tuition overnight. He urged parents to take their children elsewhere should they feel so aggrieved.
“Running a private university is like running a private hospital”, Adeowo said.
” It is not compulsory that people must come because they don’t expect the fees to be low. Since there are other options, parents who are not okay with the decision are free to take their children elsewhere. That is how I see it.
“I am not aware of this new tuition; you are the one informing me. But what will I do? My son is already in the school and I have to pay. I already factored in that the school can increase its tuition anytime so such decision did not come to me as a surprise. Today, we have many private secondary schools that charge up to N500,000 as fees and parents still pay. Even public universities are now increasing their tuition with other miscellaneous fees, or are you aware of any price-control measure in Nigeria today?” Adeowo added.
