COST OF STUDENT’S TERTIARY EDUCATION IN ANAMBRA STATE, NIGERIA
ABSTRACT
The study: cost of students’ tertiary education in Anambra State, Nigeria was conducted todetermine the cost of students’ tertiary education in Anambra state. The methodology adopted for the study was a descriptive survey research design. The target population for the study was 23,161 students from two universities and polytechnics in the state. The sample size for this study was 400 students from both private and public tertiary institutions in Anambra state. The sampling technique adopted for the study was multi-stage. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire designed titled “Cost of Students’ Tertiary Education Questionnaire (COSTEQ)”. The instrument was subjected to test of internal consistency using Cronbach Alpha procedure to determine the internal consistency and a reliability coefficient of 0.77 was obtained. Five research questions were stated to guide the study and were analysed using simple mean while T-test and Kruskal Wallis Test statistic were used to test the four null hypotheses stated to guide the study. The findings revealed the following: the average cost of student’s tertiary education in Anambra State is N270, 309.675,the average cost of tertiary education according to gender is N230,341.908 for male students and N 300, 769.692 for female students in Anambra State, the average cost of students’ tertiary education according to school type I is N335, 416.884 for University students and N236, 016.565 for Polytechnics students in Anambra State. The average cost of students’ tertiary education according to school type II is N234, 765.057 for students attending public tertiary institution and N338, 544.964 for students attending private tertiary institution in Anambra State. The average cost of students’ tertiary education according to year of study is as follows: First year N319, 482.929, Second Year N207, 268.413, Third year N250,873.333 and Fourth year N260,833.152 respectively. However, the hypotheses test showed that: the mean cost of students’ tertiary education in Anambra state is significantly different to gender. The mean cost of students’ tertiary education in Anambra state is significantly different according to sprchool type I (universities and polytechnics).The mean cost of students’ tertiary education in Anambra state is significantly different according to school type II (public and private). The mean cost of students’ tertiary education in Anambra state is significantly different to students’ year of study. With respect to the findings, the researcher recommended that the government of Anambra State should encourage students to obtain tertiary education by trying to support them with funds. The government and the civil society organizations should come together to look into the cost of university and polytechnic education. The government should try her best to discuss with the private tertiary institution to curtail their charges as this would help to reduce the stress parents and students pass through to afford the cost of tertiary Education. Finally, the government should also look at the cost of tuition and other charges incurred by first year students because it is very high compared to what other levels of undergraduate incur.