BY : DARI KWABENA MATHEW (+233555395925)
The University of Ghana has defended the upward adjustments in the academic user fees for the 2022/2023 academic year.
According to the Development Economist and a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Social Policy Studies, Dr. George Domfe, the adjustment of fees is based on rates approved by Parliament and communicated through the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), thus it is legal.
In January, the Graduate Students’ Association of Ghana (GRASAG) rejected the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission’s (GTEC) 15% increment in fees in all public universities for the 2022/23 academic year.
GTEC had directed tertiary institutions to review fees for the next academic year by a maximum 15 percent increment.
A statement issued by GRASAG said a rise in university fees will alleviate the situation of economic hardship that hit the country.
Continuing students in the humanities are required to pay GH¢1,524 while students offering Law and Administration will pay GH¢1,640 instead of the GH¢1,098 and GH¢1,688 paid respectively.
Full fee-paying students have their fees for 2022-2023 pegged at GH¢5,045 for Humanities and GH¢6,128.00 for Law and Administration
For freshmen or Level 100 students, their fees range between GH¢2,069 and GH¢2,185 for students offering courses in the Humanities instead of the GH¢1,516 paid for the 2021/2022 academic year.
Science students have fees in the range of GH¢2,288 to GH¢2,858 for continuing students while fee-paying students will pay between GH¢6,231 and GH¢8,523, depending on the course. Last academic year, a continuing student from Levels 200, 300, and 400 paid GH¢1,688.
Freshmen are required to pay between GH¢2,833 and GH¢2,992.
Dr. George Domfe reacting to a demonstration by some aggrieved students of the university said the Management of the university has not engaged in any illegality.
He explained that the University decided to suspend the increment of fees in the 2019/2020 academic year by 5% which was given approval by Parliament to all public universities due to COVID-19 following a plea from the student leadership (SRC and GRASAG).
Dr. Domfe said the university is implementing the 2019/2020 approved fees of 15% plus the 5% they failed to add in 2019 due to the increasing cost of operations.
In spite of the 20% increment, he maintained that fees at the University of Ghana are one of the lowest in the world.
He appealed to the student body to accept the increment to enable the university to undertake development projects.
