Students owe nine government varsities Shs12b in fees
Facility. Kyambogo University students walking towards the main building last year. File photo
What you need to know:
- Continuing students could pay Shs200,000 within the first two weeks to be provisionally registered.
Kampala. There is a high rate of defaulting on tuition fees in public universities, which contributes to the universities being cash-strapped, the Auditor General’s report for the financial year ending June 30, 2018, indicates. The report shows that students at nine government universities owe the institutions Shs11.8 billion in tuition fees arrears.
Some of the fees arrears have been pending for between 12 months (Shs4 billion) and three years (Shs363m), the report indicates.
The Auditor General accuses the universities of not fully implementing measures to collect tuition fees from students.
“The under-collection of tuition fees affects implementation of planned activities and intended objectives,” the report states.
“I [Auditor General] advised the universities to ensure adequate adherence to guidelines set out in the fees management policies,” the report adds.
A breakdown by the Auditor General shows Kyambogo University is the most affected, with students defaulting on Shs4.5 billion in tuition fees.
On the other hand, Makerere University students owe Shs3.5 billion in tuition fees, while Gulu University students have defaulted on Shs1.4b. The other public universities affected are: Busitema, Kabale, Lira, Mbarara, Muni and Soroti.
When Sunday Monitor contacted Makerere University Vice Chancellor, Prof Barnabas Nawangwe, for a comment, he said the university is pursuing the defaulting students and some have started clearing their debts.
He said the university will not issue transcripts to students who have not cleared their tuition liability.
Asked how the students studied and sat for end of semester examinations before clearing tuition fees, Prof Nawangwe said: “Some of them might have been forging [registration] documents but the system caught up with them.”
He said students could clear all the tuition and functional fees within six weeks in order to get registered or those who could not clear the dues within the six weeks could do so later with a five per cent surcharge before the 12th week of the semester.
Continuing students could pay Shs200,000 within the first two weeks to be provisionally registered.
Some of the students from needy families often work to clear their dues in the 12th week or just before sitting their end of semester examinations.
