In a bid to create a better future for their children, parents work tirelessly, some balancing out their jobs with several other side hustles. Semester break might be a rest period for students,but in most cases in calls on triple the workload and hustle for parents as they raise tuition fees for the following semester.
Some have to handle these tuition fees by themselves. They are having to balance out studies and their side hustles to make it work.
However, if you the parent, or you the student, have been saving for the following semester with a specific monetary goal that tallies with the current semester fees in mind, we’re sorry. Perhaps you were saving a little more extra to accommodate for any hikes in tuition costs, but, the increase in college tuition will catch you off-guard. It certainly caught us completely off-guard.
Not all universities have reported their new tuition costs for next semester, however the following universities have:
- Zimbabwe Open University(ZOU) : Undergraduates will pay $24 000, Postgraduates will pay $34 000, Masters will pay $49 000 and PHD’s $120 000
- The National University of Science and Technology (NUST): Undergraduate courses will be $32000, Postgraduates will pay $34000 and Master’s $45 000
- Great Zimbabwe University (GZU): Undergraduates will pay between $25 960 and $30 060, Postgraduates will pay $34 445 and $39 655, Masters between $37 750 and $44 045 and finally PHDs will be paying $45 000 and $57 000
GZU has already updated their website with these, however NUST director for communication and marketing Thabani Mpofu has stated that the aforementioned NUST fees are not yet official.
These new costs are an increase from a mean average of approximately $9000 per semester. The hikes are generally being attributed to the current economic conditions. They are being taken as a way to combat this situation and ensure that these institutions continue to survive.
However, should these conditions improve in the near future, it must not be expected that university fees will be reduced resultantly. Minister of Higher and Tertiary education, Professor Amon Murwira had the following remarks:
“Once we agree on fees hikes at the beginning of the year even if the economy thrives, institutions are to maintain the proposed fees as the approvals are done annually”
What are your thoughts on this matter? Even when we take the economic situation into consideration, is this sharp surge of tuition costs justifiable?
Let us know what you think in the comment section below.