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SUA students protest ’against steep fee hike
2005-09-22 08:28:38
By Guardian Reporter
Over 100 students of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) boycotted classes yesterday to protest abrupt increase of tuition fees.
The fees were been raised to 3.2m/- from 400,000/- per year.
The students told The Guardian by telephone yesterday that tuition fees had been raised to 3.2m/- per year for the veterinary medicine students, while fees for other courses went up from 400,000/- to 763,000/- per year.
The strike, which began on Monday, is to protest the discrepancies, which the students said, are arbitrary.
In contrast, medical students at Muhimbili University College of Health and Allied Sciences (MUCHS) pay 1m/- for tuition per year.
’’The difference is too wide, yet the courses are the same. We would like this to be settled before we resume classes,’’ one of the students said.
According to a government notice sent to students in July, the students can get up to 3.5m/- loan per year.
Apart from tuition fees, they are supposed to pay for examination fees, medical fees, practicals, caution money, stationery, students’ union fees and other faculty requirement.
The students said they were worried that the fees had become unaffordable and it would be difficult to repay the loans because they will have accumulated 16m/- during their five years of study.
Contacted for comment, the Dean of Faculty, Prof Mugisha Mugasa, told The Guardian by telephone that the management held a meeting that adjusted the fees in consultation with the loans board.
All students will now pay a uniform 1.263m/-.
Prof Mugasa said the deadline for the submission of loan forms is 3.30pm today.
However, as we went to press, the students were still defiant, saying the revised rates had failed to take into account other things such as faculty requirement fees.
They also said that the time for submission of the loan forms is too short.
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