LUPANE State University (LSU) has defended its hefty tuition fees hike saying they were necessary to sustain operations of the higher tertiary institution.
LSU announced a new fees structure effective from August 1.
“For post-graduate degree programmes, inclusive of all levies in the Faculty of Agriculture Sciences, special honours will be $422 500, Masters $447 500 and MSc/MPhil $462 500. Under the Faculty of Commerce, special honours cost $341 000, while post-graduate diploma in education under Faculty of Humanities is now pegged at $341 000,” the LSU said in a notice.
Before the latest increase, fees were ranging from $35 000 to $40 000.
LSU spokesperson Zwelithini Dlamini told Southern Eye that students were required to pay 60% of the fees to register and then pay the remaining 40% later. Fees for diplomas in court interpretation and translation, development studies, applied languages studies have gone up to $298 000 each.
“The review was necessitated by the need to sustain the operations of the institution ... we were no longer able to provide quality services and students were abusing the payment plan facility,’’ Dlamini said.
LSU Students Executive Council (SEC) secretary-general Promise Nkomo said the new fees were beyond the reach of most students.
“Students are obviously not satisfied. Hiking of fees will never be good news, students seek clarity from the university, and as SEC we are engaging with the administration through appropriate channels to rectify the issue,” Nkomo said.
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