Universities adjust fees structures

Robin Muchetu, Senior Reporter

STATE universities in the country have raised their tuition fees in line with regional trends  to cover  operational costs.

Lupane State University (LSU) released their new fee’s structure effective 1 August 2022 with the fees ranging from $179 000 to a high of $472 500. 

“The fees as contained in the LSU Fees Ordinance Number 1 of 2022 effective from 1 August 2022 to 31 December 2022. The fees are charged per semester. Students are required to pay 60 percent fees and register,” read a notice to students.

The faculties of Agricultural Sciences and Engineering and Applied Sciences will now pay $285 000 per semester while in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences will have to pay $279 750 while those taking up diplomas will now pay $298 000.

Those in the Faculty of Commerce are expected to pay $179 750 for this semester. Post-graduate degree students will dig deep into their pockets as they have to pay a lot more than the undergraduates and that will see them paying an excess of $472 500.

Students in conventional programmes will have to fork out $100 000 for accommodation while those on block release are required to pay $40 000 before residence allocation. However, LSU director of marketing and public relations Mr Zwelithini Dlamini said they had adjusted levies and not tuition fees.

“LSU only adjusted the levies for the undergraduate programmes. This was done to sustain service provision to the students since the figures had become too low and the university was constrained to provide quality tuition. It is only the post-graduate fee structure which was adjusted since these programmes should be self-sustaining,” he said.

He said the levies which were reviewed in consultation with students and the university did not need Government approval to adjust but were raised after dialogue between the parties.

“The fees were not raised in our instance; we only raised the levies which were extremely low and were no longer sustainable. These levies are the ones that support learning such as computers and things like Wi-Fi for the students. So, we raised them in consultation with the students. The tuition would need us to then get a nod from the ministry,” said Mr Dlamini.

The University of Zimbabwe has, however, proposed that students who are unable to pay tuition fees must be enrolled in a work-study programme that caters for students unable to cover the costs. They have also introduced strategies that will ensure students can pay their fees in a convenient and flexible manner.

“In response to submissions by our students, the university has introduced the following flexible fees payment plans; students that cannot pay full fees are required to pay last semesters fees and proceed to register before 30 September 2022. The university is also consulting a ‘means test’ to identify needy students with the view to tailor appropriate support mechanisms according to students’ circumstances,” said the acting Registrar Dr Munyaradzi Madambi.

Discounts for tuition fees have also been introduced at UZ with those that pay 100 percent of fees enjoying a 12.5 percent discount, those that pay 75 percent will enjoy a 10 percent discount while those that are able to pay 50 percent will get a five  percent discount, only if all these payments are made by 31 October. They, however, maintained that no student was going to miss out on learning time due to non-payment of tuition or fail to write examinations.

The National University of Science and Technology (NUST) has requested that students pay between $270 420 and $284 700 for undergraduate degrees while post-graduate degree programmes will see students parting with between $360 000 and $714 000 per semester. The university also announced that students can make payment plans to clear their fees with a requirement of 60 percent of total fees being paid in order for them to register. 

Last week President Mnangagwa said  students in tertiary institutions were not taking up Government facilitated loans to fund their education with reports of only 10 000 students having benefited so far despite the large numbers of students in the institutions and the facility being open to all. 

President Mnangagwa also directed that all State universities look at ways of making the financial burden of securing higher education bearable as there were many avenues and mechanisms which could be invoked and pursued to ensure gifted students from poor backgrounds were assisted. – @NyembeziMu.