NELFUND Expresses Worries Over Increase In Tuition Fees

By; PETER NOSAKHARE, Kaduna

Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has expressed concerns over the astronomical increase in tuition fees by some institutions, ranging between 20 and 521 per cent.

A document obtained by newsmen from the Fund’s internal risk management unit, noted that the recent surge in tuition fees across various institutions, particularly for programmes such as Medicine, Nursing, and Law, has placed a significant financial burden on students and strained the fund’s operations.

In what is called, ‘Report on Framework to Mitigate the Impact of Increased Institutional Charges on the Fund’s Operations,’ the document listed the affected institutions as the University of Ilesha, Osun State; Ekiti State University; University of Medical Sciences, Ondo; Edo State University; Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Oyo State; and David Umahi Federal University of Health Sciences (DUFUHS), Ebonyi State.

This development is coming barely six months after it was reported that at least 51 institutions had been implicated in illegal deductions and exploitation of the scheme.

In July this year, the it was also reported that the Fund had rejected loan applications from 10 tertiary institutions due to excessive fee hikes of up to 900 per cent.

Giving details of the increases, the report obtained indicated that the University of Ilesha raised its Nursing programme fee from 825,000 Naira to 1.276 million Naira, representing a 55 per cent hike, while the Law programme rose from 1.276 million Naira to 1.526 million Naira, a 20 per cent increase.

This document showed that Ekiti State University increased its Medicine and Surgery fee from 797,000 Naira to 1.132 million Naira, representing a 42 per cent hike. Similarly, Edo State University raised the same programme’s fee by N1 million, from 3.250 million Naira to 4.250 million Naira, representing a 31 per cent hike.

This means that a medical student at Edo State University, studying from 100 to 600 level, would graduate with a debt burden of over 51 million Naira.

For the University of Medical Sciences, Ondo, the report indicated that the state-owned institution significantly raised tuition fees for three courses, with increases ranging from 40 to 149 per cent.

The document revealed that the school’s Nursing charges rose by 149 per cent, from 900,000 Naira to 2.245 million Naira, an increase of 1.345 million Naira. Similarly, the Community Health programme rose from 1.2 million Naira to 1.683 million Naira, representing a 40 per cent increase, while Medicine and Surgery spiked from 1.320 million Naira to 2.245 million Naira, a 70 per cent hike.

Also mentioned was LAUTECH, which increased its Medicine and Surgery programme fee from 126,000 Naira to 782,000 Naira; a 521 per cent increase. The school also raised its Biomedical and Nursing programme fees by 410 per cent, marking a significant increase of 516,000 Naira respectively.

For David Umahi Federal University of Health Sciences (DUFUHS), Ebonyi State, the tuition fee for Medicine and Surgery was increased by about 46 per cent, from 1.030 million Naira to 1.5 million Naira.

In the lead-up to the reopening of the student loan portal last October, it was observed that some institutions had significantly increased their tuition fees.

They include the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), which raised institutional charges for all levels by between 25 and 67 per cent; Federal University, Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE), by between 10 and 120 per cent; and Kogi State Polytechnic, by between 115 and over 1,000 per cent.

NELFUND may halt disbursements to defaulting schools to mitigate the impact of increased institutional charges on the Fund’s operations, the committee made far-reaching recommendations, including pausing disbursements to schools with extreme increases pending review, capping loans for affected institutions until a long-term solution is finalised, or temporarily halting loans to institutions where fee hikes exceed 100 per cent until a thorough review is conducted.

For long-term strategies, the report urged the Fund to collaborate with the Federal Ministry of Education to establish national fee guidelines, publish updated loan policies and fee thresholds on the agency’s website, and allow students to report unfair fee practices anonymously.

According to the Student Loan Disbursement Dashboard released last week, NELFUND had, as of September 26, disbursed over 107.6 billion Naira to 581,878 students across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

A breakdown of the disbursements showed that institutional fees accounted for N61.3 billion, while upkeep allowances amounted to 46.3 billion Naira.

Parents decry fresh increases as NANS demands urgent action
The steep increase in tuition fees after the rollout of the loan scheme in 2024 has fuelled calls for tighter regulations.

It has also triggered fears of possible exploitation by universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education, leading to protests by students and parents in several affected institutions.

A concerned parent, Alabi Ademola, called for the intervention of the federal and state governments in the affected states.

Ademola cautioned that if left unchecked, it would undermine President Bola Tinubu’s efforts to support indigent students.

While calling for a cap on tuition, Ademola noted that education should be treated as a public good rather than a commodity that places unbearable pressure on struggling households.

“Hiking tuition fees by the institutions is rather unfortunate and can be classified as a corrupt tendency.

President Tinubu’s government is trying to help students with poor financial backgrounds to fulfil their educational pursuits, but those who are supposed to assist in actualising it are the ones frustrating the laudable programme,” he lamented.

Education analysts have also cautioned that unchecked tuition hikes could undermine the long-term goals of the loan scheme.

They argued that instead of widening access to education, the policy might inadvertently deepen inequality, with only students from relatively privileged homes able to cope with the costs.

On its part, the Education Rights Campaign (ERC) argued that the loan scheme is worsening the crisis in the higher education sub-sector instead of solving it.

The National Mobilisation Officer of the group, Michael Adaramoye, described the policy as “a debt trap” that threatens to push millions of Nigerian students into long-term financial hardship.

“This is one of the precarious crises the students’ loan scheme is creating in the education sector; in fact, it is a logical consequence of the scheme and further reinforces the argument that a loan scheme is inimical to public education,” Adaramoye said.

“The idea that loans will cushion this burden is false. Loans are not relief; they are debt traps.”

According to him, the sharp rise in tuition fees since the scheme’s introduction is a direct outcome of the government’s policy.

He argued that many administrators of tertiary institutions now justify fee hikes by referring students to the loan programme, despite knowing that it cannot cater to all students.

Adaramoye accused the government of commercialising education and abandoning its constitutional responsibility to fund learning.

He noted that across the world, student loan schemes have led to generational indebtedness without resolving the underlying issue of chronic underfunding.

He further called for the immediate reversal of all increments implemented since the loan scheme took effect, insisting that no institution should charge tuition above the national minimum wage of 77,000 Naira.

“A serious government will not turn its young population into debtors; the viable alternative, and the only way to ensure access to education for Nigerians, is for public education to be properly funded and democratically managed by students and staff through their unions,” he stated.

The group also demanded that the loan programme be scrapped and replaced with grants targeted at indigent students.

Adaramoye urged students, education workers, and pro-education organisations to unite in pressing the government to prioritise free and quality education and make it accessible to all Nigerians.

In its intervention, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) urged the Federal Ministry of Education to take urgent steps by imposing a loan restriction on erring institutions.

In a telephone interview with newsmen, the NANS Public Relations Officer, Adeyemi Ajasa, explained that the association has directed its state and zonal branches to handle the issue at their level first. Should those efforts fail, he added, the national leadership of NANS would be compelled to step in directly.

Ajasa recalled that the South-West zonal leadership, alongside state representatives of the association, convened a meeting last week to deliberate on the situation.

He emphasised that with regard to the Federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE), the association’s position has not changed, insisting that the disputed fees or charges should remain at the existing level.

He stressed that NANS would not stand by while students are unfairly burdened with excessive financial demands, as this contradicts the fundamental goal of education being accessible to all.

The student leader stressed that raising tuition at this time is difficult, adding that although institutions had previously justified the hike by citing fuel price increases and inflation, these arguments no longer hold water, given that the situation has been relatively stable for more than a year.

“Unfortunately, it’s true that some institutions are again going to increase their tuition for the 2025/2026 academic session, aside from the one they increased earlier.