As Universities and colleges face complaints since the price of tuition fees increased, there’ve been a lot of questions from students and parents on how tuition fees are being spent. Hence students must have effective communication regarding how Universities and colleges carry out their financial procedures.
What is a tuition fee?
A tuition fee is a payment charged for teaching by a college, university, or private school. This fee is paid annually or every semester and differs from one kind of institution to the next. It covers instruction, Seminars, instructional material, and equipment as well as tutorials.
A college or University needs funding to pay for expenses and invest in good educational resources that can help deliver high-quality education. This funding comes from a broad range of sources, which includes tuition fees, government funding, research grants, donations, and self-generated income from commercial operations. Tuition fee remains one of the major sources of income for educational activities.
What Tuition Fees are Used For
The income generated from tuition fees does finance some educational expenses. It pays for educational services for students learning but it is not sufficient in itself in funding all that the institution needs to provide quality education. Here are some services tuition fees pay for:
1. Quality Academic Staff:
According to the International Standard Classification of Education(ISCED), academic staffs consist of personnel whose primary assignment is instruction, research, or public service. They are employed by holding appointments as Professor, Assistant Professor, Instructor, Lecturer, dean, associate dean, assistant dean, head of the department, etc.
Universities and colleges employ these staff to deliver all learner support services and to ensure a good teaching environment. These student support services entail providing and sustaining a proper instruction, research, and operating environment.
2. Academic Library:
Universities and colleges are responsible for funding their libraries. It is usually a fixed proportion of the overall income realized from tuition fees.
Nice buildings, well-trained personnel, and modern information storage and recovery techniques can only be realized if outstanding services are rendered to users. These services can only be provided with adequate finance. Academic Libraries need proper funding to meet their goals.
3. Tutorial advice and support:
Universities manage the welfare of their students by providing Tutors, student counselors, and access to mentoring services. They also offer facilities and resources to help nurture students in extracurricular activities.
4. Sporting Services:
Physical education is necessary for students. Universities and colleges are responsible for funding these sporting activities. This is carried out by buying new sporting facilities and maintaining existing sporting equipment.
Sports volunteering, club membership, competitions, and coaching services are observed by students utilizing sports provisions. Most universities and colleges fund this area from some proportion of the income obtained from tuition fees.
5. Bursaries and Placement:
Tuition fees contribute to bursary schemes and financial aids sponsored by academic institutions.
Colleges have a wide range of financial support reserves that students can generally access: many of these will depend on your circumstances and eligibility. They do this to assist students who are struggling and are unable to pay the cost of college fees.
They render assistance by advising and supporting students in applying for access, travel, scholarship, and hardship funds.
6. Computing facilities:
With the emergence of computing devices for research purposes using the internet, academic institutions provide these facilities for educational purposes. Students can access computer facilities provided by their respective colleges which will help their studies.
Most universities offer a ‘laptop lending’ service where a student can borrow a laptop to use for 48 hours or 72 hours, depending on the time allocated for lending. Another computing service offered by most institutions is free to access the Internet within the campus(Wifi).
7. Administrative Functions:
College provides communication between students and official bodies, both internally and externally. (For example, entering you for examinations, proposing you for degrees, publishing to funding bodies, controlling changes, course deferrals, and suspensions, collecting fees, issuing grants and other bills, and keeping full records about your academic progress, and performance and achievement). These functions can not be carried out smoothly without proper funding, hence colleges contribute to this from a significant portion of the tuition fee.
8. Extra curriculum Tuition :
Universities and colleges provide the infrastructure of supplementary programs. These programs are available for both undergraduate and postgraduate levels for registered courses, over and above courses. Examples of this supplementary teaching program are seminars, study skills training, and other educational networks.
9. Field trips:
Some courses require that students go on field trips in making up part of their assessments. Universities and colleges contribute by paying for their travel and accommodation costs. These costs are paid from the revenue obtained from tuition fees. Food, drinks, and souvenirs are not paid for during field trips.
9. Buildings:
The quality of buildings can improve or hinder teaching. Well-structured buildings and conducive surroundings can enhance a better learning experience and concentration.
Tuition fees are used by colleges for building projects which include:
-Construction of buildings
-Extension to previous buildings.
-Repairs and Maintenance of buildings
Conclusion
Now you know what your tuition fee is used for, your budget might not be sufficient to cover the cost of the university. Additional financial support might be helpful. These additional fundings may be in the form of bursaries, grants, or scholarships. You can apply for them and you don’t need to pay them back. You can get these aids from Federal, state, private, and even academic institutions.x
Is the tuition fee paid annually or per semester:
Paying tuition fees annually or per semester varies from one college to another. Most Universities publish their tuition and fee together as an annual cost while some provide theirs to be per semester.
Is tuition fee the only fee for colleges:
No, the tuition fee is the larger segment of college costs. While paying for tuition, you’ll also be paying for other fees to attend a college. Tuition and fee differ from one college to another. The published price of attending a college is not usually what students pay. Most students pay less by applying for financial aid.
What other fees are not included in the tuition fee
Some other expenses are not included in your tuition fee, this may include Printing, textbooks, books, optional activities, optional trips, Your personal computer, visa costs, additional program costs, and living expenses.
How can financial aid be beneficial:
Financial aid is money given to a student to help pay for college. This can be awarded to you depending on your financial challenges. The final price paid for attending a college is the sticker price (the total annual cost of attending a college) excluding any grants, scholarships, and educational benefits that have been awarded to you. You can estimate the net price of a college by using their net price calculator.
