The University of Lagos (UNILAG) has officially declared a reduction in tuition fees for its students. This move comes after a crucial meeting held on Thursday between the university’s authorities and representatives from the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS).
The meeting, led by the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Folasade Ogunsola, and NANS President Usman Barambu, aimed to address the ongoing crisis surrounding the recent hike in tuition fees at the institution.
Back in July, UNILAG had raised tuition fees substantially, with fees for medical students set at N190,250, while courses requiring laboratory and studio facilities were priced at N140,250. Programs not necessitating lab and studio access were set at N100,750.
However, in a statement released on Friday morning by the university’s spokesperson, Adejoke Alaga-Ibrahim, UNILAG announced a reduction in various obligatory fees for students, including utility bills, convocation fees, and hostel fees.
The adjustments include utility charges, now reduced to N15,000 from N20,000, and convocation fees for final-year students, reduced to N27,000 from N30,000.
For new undergraduate students, obligatory fees for courses without lab/studio decreased from N126,325 to N116,325, and for courses with lab/studio, from N176,325 to N166,325. Returning undergraduate students also witnessed fee reductions, with courses without lab/studio going from N100,750 to N80,750, courses with lab/studio from N140,250 to N120,250, and medical/pharmacy students seeing fees drop from N190,250 to N170,250.
Hostel fees were also significantly reduced. Undergraduate hostels in the Akoka and Yaba campuses will now cost students N43,000 instead of the previous N90,000, while hostels in the Idi-Araba campus are reduced to N65,000 from N120,000. Furthermore, fees for Sodeinde Hall have been lowered to N135,000 from N250,000.
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In addition to these fee reductions, Vice Chancellor Ogunsola assured students that plans were in progress to reinstate students’ union activities. She emphasized that no student would be forced to drop out due to financial constraints, highlighting measures such as instalment payment options, scholarships, a revitalized work-study program, assistance for indigent students, and a partnership with the Lagos Bus Rapid Transport System to ease fee payments.
This decision by UNILAG is expected to provide relief to students and ease the financial burden on many.