Tuition: Parents need to follow up on payments

As Makerere University prepares to hold its 68th graduation ceremony tomorrow, a number of parents and guardians might miss seeing their children graduate.
This is why, last week, the university published a public notice in the press bearing names of students who are not likely to graduate due to non-payment of tuition fees.
The notice asked parents/guardians to verify the financial status of their children with the university administration before the start of the graduation tomorrow (January 16).
The university spokesperson, Ritah Namisango, indicated that some of the students will not graduate for failure to meet academic requirement meets such as missing marks and not sitting exams.
“The management strongly advises the students whose names are published and their parents/guardians and sponsors to verify their financial status with the university bursar before January 16, 2018,” the notice read in part.
However, the challenge of fees payment is not unique to Makerere University but other tertiary institutions.
Forged graduation lists
Joshua Makawa Neema, a former IT administrator at Makerere University, narrated a story of a Kenyan student who brought his parents for graduation yet he had only paid tuition for one semester and not attended any lectures in his entire course of study.
“The parents came all the way from Kenya for graduation but did not hear the name of their son being read out at the graduation ceremony,” Neema said, adding that the student had forged the graduation book and included his name to dupe his parents.

“When the parents went to the College of Social Sciences, they discovered the student had only paid for one semester and had never appeared again at the university,” he added.
Just last week, a district boss of one the northern Uganda districts went to the College of Humanities and Social Sciences to verify the financial status of his son at the university, only to be informed that the student had not paid any money for the first semester of his final year.
“Students are given fees by parents and instead of paying they use the money for leisure by going to night clubs, some go for betting and some invest in small businesses in the hope of making profits,” said Neema.
Vincent Ekwang, the registrar College of Humanities and Social Sciences, said misusing tuition is not unique to finalists but also continuing students. “Next week we shall have a disciplinary hearing for students who forged examination permits,” Ekwang said.
Create liaison offices
The principal College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Prof Edward K. Kirumira, said when they are admitting students, they assume someone joining university is mature.
“The education system has made us assume that every student who joins the university has a mature mind but that is not the case, some students come to university when they are still mentally immature,” Prof Kirumira said.
He said universities need to create student’s liaison offices that can be a link between students, lecturers and parents. “This office can help a parent track their child’s academic progress and the financial status,” he said. “There is a scenario where a parent does even know the course their child is studying,” he said.
Prof Barnabas Nawangwe, the Makerere University vice chancellor, said some students divert tuition to other ventures, adding that the university is looking at how it can partner with commercial banks to resolve the problem. “We want to put in place a system where a student pays in the bank and the parent receives a notification confirming payment and the amount paid,” he said.
At Kampala International University (KIU), Dr Mouhamad Mpezamihigo, the vice chancellor, said some students normally invest their tuition fees in buying new smartphones and starting small businesses. “I cannot rule out the fact that some students misuse tuition fees, parents should always follow up on their children to ascertain whether they have cleared their tuition,” he said.
With such scenarios of students failing to study while others fail to remit money to their institutions, there is need for innovation to ensure that the parent keeps updated of their children’s academic affairs from the time of admission up to the time of graduation.