Tuition increment kicks out the poor
Aug 19, 2009
MAKERERE university’s outgoing vice- chancellor last year described the 87-year-old institution as a patient in coma. Prof. Livingstone Luboobi told Parliament that the university was on the brink of closedown. By then, it was operating on a budget defi
By Francis Kagolo
MAKERERE university’s outgoing vice- chancellor last year described the 87-year-old institution as a patient in coma. Prof. Livingstone Luboobi told Parliament that the university was on the brink of closedown. By then, it was operating on a budget deficit of close to sh60b.
All the five public universities (Makerere, Kyambogo, Gulu, Mbarara and Busitema) have suffered the brunt of inadequate Government funding. But following constant strikes by lecturers, the Government has yielded to their demand to increase tuition fees.
The universities have increased tuition fees for private students beginning this academic year, by 40%. Education ministry and experts in the academia have hailed the increment, saying it was long overdue.
Fagil Mandy, an education consultant, says university education involves a lot of research, practical work and industrial training which are expensive. To compete favourably in the liberalised sector, he says, public universities need more money.
However, with tuition fees ranging from sh900,000 to sh1.7m and functional fees (examination, registration, library and research) of about sh600,000 a year, critics wonder whether higher education has not become a preserve of the rich.
Until 1995, students who made it to university would get free education. With the introduction of Universal Primary Education, focus has been shifted to free basic education rather than higher education. Today, only students who make it to selected science courses get free university education.
“Will the poor parents ever get another chance to educate their children?†wonders Ngora county MP Francis Epetait.
Funding woes
Since the 1990s when public universities started the private sponsorship scheme, Government funding has been dwindling. Universities have had to depend on money generated from fees from private students to bridge gaps in their budget. For instance, during the 2000/2001 academic year, Makerere only got sh23b or 38% from the Government of the sh61b it had budgeted for.
For the past years, Makerere has been getting about sh33b, according to the institution’s spokesperson Gilbert Kadilo. Kyambogo, Busitema, Gulu and Mbarara universities get much lower than that.
Naturally, Kadilo says, money from the Government is supposed to pay staff salaries and cater for utility bills like electricity, water and internet services. It also caters for Government-sponsored students’ internship, feeding, teaching materials and other development factors, including library, research and infrastructure development.
However, the funds would hardly pay all the staff salaries. The university had to use part of its internally generated funds to top up salaries of professors and associate professors by over sh500,000 each. It also used part of the revenue from private students to meet feeding expenses of Government-sponsored students.
The situation is the same at Kyambogo University, according to James Bulenzibuto, its spokesperson.
As a result, a report released recently by Prof. A. B. Kasozi, the director of the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE), revealed that Makerere had an accumulated deficit of sh64b by 2007. Kyambogo and Gulu registered a deficit each of sh3.8b last year, while the new Busitema had a gap of sh2.4b.
Such deficits affect service delivery. Makerere has had its internet services cut off thrice in the last two years, each time over a debt of more than sh200m. Water was also cut off for almost a week last year due to a sh60m debt. Scholastic materials like chalk, paper and pens may seem cheaper even to small colleges, but Makerere lecturers spent two weeks on a sit-down strike last year because the institution could not buy them.
What the increment means
The hike will most likely exacerbate regional literacy imbalance, analysts note. “Time will come when regions like east and northern Uganda, which have the highest levels of poverty, will hardly get 100 students graduating from university, †says an LC5 councillor in Tororo.
A NCHE report released early this year revealed that, about 70% of students currently on Government sponsorship in public universities come from rich families. This is because poor students cannot afford going to the best schools which excel at A’ level.
But education experts argue that the quality of education in public universities should not be sacrificed in the welter of poverty lamentations.
“Yes, some people are poor, but universities have a role to produce skilled professionals for the nation. Education is a product got from many inputs which cost money. People should know this,†says Kasozi.
He instead calls upon Government to speed up the loan scheme to help students from poor families who cannot afford the high tuition fees.
Mandy concurs: “For how long shall we sing the poor man’s song? When shall we ever develop?â€
Mandy argues that the high tuition fees would compel both students and parents to become more creative and work hard, which will lead to economic development. “Today, you find a university student waiting for their parents to buy them even the cheapest things like under pants. How then can we claim that we are training people who will change the nation?†he wonders.
Nathan Behangana, a senior lecturer at Kyambogo University and president of the Institution of Surveyors of Uganda, says the tuition fee increment is still low compared to other public universities in the region. In Kenya and Tanzania, he notes, universities charge over $5,000 (sh10m) per semester.
“How do you expect universities to cope with the increase in costs of textbooks?â€
How students in the Western world cope
IN the UK, there has been a raging debate as universities seek to increase fees due to the global recession. The majority of British universities are state sponsored, and a state-provided loan is available, but it only caters for tuition fees.
In the US universities, the choice is between cutting back on the number of students and asking them to pay more.
The latter has not had the adverse impact on enrolment because most students have the option to take up loans, which they will clear when they have completed college and started working. Some students work as they study, and manage to pay their own tuition fees. Of course, some parents have had to cripple themselves trying to spare their children from graduating in debt.
But for the most part, the investment — earning a degree – eventually brings a comparably large return.
Recent reports support the idea of tuition fees across European universities, though critics have pointed out that low or no fees are a competitive advantage in the race to secure a share of the global higher education market.
MAKERERE university’s outgoing vice- chancellor last year described the 87-year-old institution as a patient in coma. Prof. Livingstone Luboobi told Parliament that the university was on the brink of closedown. By then, it was operating on a budget deficit of close to sh60b.
All the five public universities (Makerere, Kyambogo, Gulu, Mbarara and Busitema) have suffered the brunt of inadequate Government funding. But following constant strikes by lecturers, the Government has yielded to their demand to increase tuition fees.
The universities have increased tuition fees for private students beginning this academic year, by 40%. Education ministry and experts in the academia have hailed the increment, saying it was long overdue.
Fagil Mandy, an education consultant, says university education involves a lot of research, practical work and industrial training which are expensive. To compete favourably in the liberalised sector, he says, public universities need more money.
However, with tuition fees ranging from sh900,000 to sh1.7m and functional fees (examination, registration, library and research) of about sh600,000 a year, critics wonder whether higher education has not become a preserve of the rich.
Until 1995, students who made it to university would get free education. With the introduction of Universal Primary Education, focus has been shifted to free basic education rather than higher education. Today, only students who make it to selected science courses get free university education.
“Will the poor parents ever get another chance to educate their children?†wonders Ngora county MP Francis Epetait.
Funding woes
Since the 1990s when public universities started the private sponsorship scheme, Government funding has been dwindling. Universities have had to depend on money generated from fees from private students to bridge gaps in their budget. For instance, during the 2000/2001 academic year, Makerere only got sh23b or 38% from the Government of the sh61b it had budgeted for.
For the past years, Makerere has been getting about sh33b, according to the institution’s spokesperson Gilbert Kadilo. Kyambogo, Busitema, Gulu and Mbarara universities get much lower than that.
Naturally, Kadilo says, money from the Government is supposed to pay staff salaries and cater for utility bills like electricity, water and internet services. It also caters for Government-sponsored students’ internship, feeding, teaching materials and other development factors, including library, research and infrastructure development.
However, the funds would hardly pay all the staff salaries. The university had to use part of its internally generated funds to top up salaries of professors and associate professors by over sh500,000 each. It also used part of the revenue from private students to meet feeding expenses of Government-sponsored students.
The situation is the same at Kyambogo University, according to James Bulenzibuto, its spokesperson.
As a result, a report released recently by Prof. A. B. Kasozi, the director of the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE), revealed that Makerere had an accumulated deficit of sh64b by 2007. Kyambogo and Gulu registered a deficit each of sh3.8b last year, while the new Busitema had a gap of sh2.4b.
Such deficits affect service delivery. Makerere has had its internet services cut off thrice in the last two years, each time over a debt of more than sh200m. Water was also cut off for almost a week last year due to a sh60m debt. Scholastic materials like chalk, paper and pens may seem cheaper even to small colleges, but Makerere lecturers spent two weeks on a sit-down strike last year because the institution could not buy them.
What the increment means
The hike will most likely exacerbate regional literacy imbalance, analysts note. “Time will come when regions like east and northern Uganda, which have the highest levels of poverty, will hardly get 100 students graduating from university, †says an LC5 councillor in Tororo.
A NCHE report released early this year revealed that, about 70% of students currently on Government sponsorship in public universities come from rich families. This is because poor students cannot afford going to the best schools which excel at A’ level.
But education experts argue that the quality of education in public universities should not be sacrificed in the welter of poverty lamentations.
“Yes, some people are poor, but universities have a role to produce skilled professionals for the nation. Education is a product got from many inputs which cost money. People should know this,†says Kasozi.
He instead calls upon Government to speed up the loan scheme to help students from poor families who cannot afford the high tuition fees.
Mandy concurs: “For how long shall we sing the poor man’s song? When shall we ever develop?â€
Mandy argues that the high tuition fees would compel both students and parents to become more creative and work hard, which will lead to economic development. “Today, you find a university student waiting for their parents to buy them even the cheapest things like under pants. How then can we claim that we are training people who will change the nation?†he wonders.
Nathan Behangana, a senior lecturer at Kyambogo University and president of the Institution of Surveyors of Uganda, says the tuition fee increment is still low compared to other public universities in the region. In Kenya and Tanzania, he notes, universities charge over $5,000 (sh10m) per semester.
“How do you expect universities to cope with the increase in costs of textbooks?â€
How students in the Western world cope
IN the UK, there has been a raging debate as universities seek to increase fees due to the global recession. The majority of British universities are state sponsored, and a state-provided loan is available, but it only caters for tuition fees.
In the US universities, the choice is between cutting back on the number of students and asking them to pay more.
The latter has not had the adverse impact on enrolment because most students have the option to take up loans, which they will clear when they have completed college and started working. Some students work as they study, and manage to pay their own tuition fees. Of course, some parents have had to cripple themselves trying to spare their children from graduating in debt.
But for the most part, the investment — earning a degree – eventually brings a comparably large return.
Recent reports support the idea of tuition fees across European universities, though critics have pointed out that low or no fees are a competitive advantage in the race to secure a share of the global higher education market.