The Senior Assistant Registrar at the Public Affairs Directorate, Pascaline Songsore, has described the University of Ghana’s decision to grant a 2% discount on academic fees of some students as a fair move.
She was speaking on Campus Exclusive, discussing the one-time discount of 2% that the University of Ghana applied to the 15% increased academic fees of some selected categories of students for the 2022/2023 academic year.
In a statement released by the University’s Public Affairs Directorate, the discount was in response to an appeal presented by the Parliament Select Committee on Education to decrease the fees of students with respect to the ongoing economic hardships in the country.
Affected students include students under the Full Fee Paying Programmme, Programmes at Accra City Campus and Distance Education Programmes.
According to Ms. Pascaline Songsore, the decision was made with the interest of the students as a priority whilst trying to acknowledge the University’s needs.
“I believe that a lot of discussions went on. Students are looking forward to enjoying better facilities in terms of academic facilities and residential facilities, though this bothers more on the academic bits. I think that the University would look at what it needs to run. The Council had to make a decision and meet students halfway and not hurt the University in the process. We still believe that this is a fair decision.,” she said.
The Student Accountant at the University of Ghana, Samuel Osei Mensah also explained how the 2% discount will be calculated.
“If you pick the approved fees by parliament, then we just do it at 2%. So currently, if you are a Bachelor of Arts, that’s humanities, your 2% [discount] as a fresh student is 86 GHC. As a continuous student, your discount is 76 GHC. That’s the 2%,” he said.
In response to the news, the Press Secretary for the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS), Emmanuel Gyimah appreciated the step taken by the University.
Speaking to UniversNews, he went on to mention that subsequent meetings will be held between stakeholders to discuss the issue for clarification.
“And so if they sat down and this is what they can come up with, we wouldn’t want to talk much. We would just want to appreciate what has come now and wait for a meeting from the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education and the Investor of Ghana Management where we can understand more of the issues. We would hold on to that for now, because if they had given nothing at all, it would have meant that the meetings that we held were not considered.”
Meanwhile, student activist Justice Alor has described the 2% discount as insignificant; he suggested a 5 to 7% discount for the entire school populace to raise the significance of the discount.
Some students of the University have also voiced their opinions on the matter, with some praising the University management for the step and others considering the discount as meagre.
