UG informs students of tuition hike via email
The news of an increase in tuition fees has taken students of the University of Guyana,(UG) by surprise. According to an email disseminated to students by the UG administration department, yesterday, the Finance and General
The University of Guyana Turkeyen Campus
Purposes Committee of the University had approved an annual five per cent increase in the tuition fees effective for 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 Academic Years.
The email stated that the annual tuition fee for the 2016/2017 Academic Year is therefore $168,000 instead of $160,000. The information continued that “the university advises all students that all invoices will be amended accordingly.
“The difference, without penalty, becomes due and payable on or before November 15, 2016. The facilities fee remains unchanged,” the email said.
Back in 2014, UG had announced a tuition increase, something the administration had wanted to do for some time.
The University administration had explained that the tuition hike “has become necessary due to the rising cost of providing quality education not only in Guyana but worldwide.”
Additionally the administration has cited inflation as negatively affecting the allocation to the University from the Government, thereby “making the current tuition fees paid by students unsustainable and unrealistic.”
It should also be noted that when fees were reinstated in 1994, it was the understanding that adjustments would have been made to reflect the change in the exchange rates.
The university said that the “added revenue will be used to create new academic services and facilities, help hire new faculty and expand and improve programme offerings in general, to improve the quality of services offered by the University.”
According to the UG administration, there were only certain programmes where the tuition fees will not be adjusted. However the fee was doubled to almost half the initial amount in some instances.
“As it pertains to the continuing students, their fees will be incrementally adjusted from the effective date of 2014.”
Therefore according to the Council, continuing students in the year 2014 saw their old fee of $127,000 increase to $130,000 in 2015; it increased further to $145,000 and then to $160,000 this year.
Additionally, the council announced that the various miscellaneous fees which were previously paid will be replaced with a Facilities Fee of $50,000.
New students (Guyanese) are required to pay $210,000, inclusive of the Facilities Fee for most programmes,” the university had stated.