Effects Of Increase In Tuition Fees On Business Education Students’ Enrolment

INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Tertiary education can be defined as the level of education acquired after secondary education in higher institutions of learning such as Universities, Polytechnics, Colleges of education and other institutions of higher learning offering correspondence courses, diplomas and certificates. Famade, Omiyale and Adebola (2015) citing Ahmed (2011) they opined that the challenges confronting tertiary institutions in Nigeria include financing and funding, the growth of private tertiary institutions, management challenges and so on but the challenge dealing the worst deathblow is that of under-funding of tertiary institutions. Nwangwu (2005) in Famade et al (2015) stated that the foundation of education is frail when education is not well funded and the products of such foundation are weak intellectuals. When there were just a few tertiary institutions, Government saddle the burden of funding the institutions solely but from the mid- 1980’s there was a massive increase in the number of tertiary institutions and in students’ enrollment in Nigeria. This increase has gotten to the point where the Government openly acknowledged that it can no longer saddle the responsibility of funding institutions alone.
The Federal Government of Nigeria is increasingly finding it difficult to meet the high cost of funding tertiary education in Nigeria and if tertiary institutions in the country are to survive, there is an urgent need to seek out means of improving their funding. It is instructive to note that education is a right and not a privilege and if this is to become a reality in the Nigerian context then education needs to be subsidized and better funded at the tertiary level. In the face of the declining financial resource allocation to the education sector, there is the need for alternative channels of funding which will ensure qualitative education and graduates from the Nigerian education system.
The history of higher education in Nigeria dated back to the period of the colonial era with the establishment of Yaba Higher College in 1932 which marked the turning point of higher education in Nigeria. The Higher College was established to produce “assistants” who would relieve colonial administrators of menial tasks (Olujuwon, 2002). The establishment of higher educational institutions was in pursuit of meeting the global requirements of producing manpower that will serve in different capacities and contribute positively to the nation’s socio-economic and political development in Nigeria (Abdulkareem, Fasasi and Akinubi, 2011). The Federal Government of Nigeria promulgated enabling law to institute higher education towards producing high-level relevant manpower training, self-reliance, national development through the establishment of both conventional and special universities, polytechnics, mono-technics and colleges of education in different parts of the country by the Federal, state governments, private organizations and individuals (Abdulkareem, Fasasi and Akinubi, 2011).
The Nigerian tertiary institutions comprise of Universities, Polytechnics, Colleges of Education, Institutes of Technology and other professional institutions operating under the umbrella of their parent ministries. The institutions can be further categorized into State Government Institutions and Federal Institutions. Tertiary institutions are also grouped into Public Institutions owned by the Federal and State Government and private Institutions owned by Individuals, Religious bodies and other private organizations.
Historically, when the Nigerian government’s estimates of 1987/88 fiscal year on education took over 40 percent of the government’s total expenditure, the government had to reassess her budgetary reallocation. That heavy fiscal commitment to education contributed significantly to the government’s deficit and became a major constraint on the government’s effort to stabilize the economy. To address itself to the problem, the government decided through Sessional Paper No.6 of 1988 on Education and Manpower Development that, among other issues in order to have the increasing claim of the education sector on national resources reduced, the government would introduce a cost-sharing system through which both Public and Private sectors’ expenditures on education would be rationalized.
However, it is important to note that the issue of cost-sharing in education in the Nigerian tertiary institutions had been there even the years before and after independence. But the expenditure on education from the budget had not been burdensome because the tertiary education enrollment was not that great as it was in the last two decades of the 20th century (Federal Ministry of Education, 1989). It was the governments’ hope that through the cost-sharing policy, it would reduce its financial expenditure on education. In that arrangement of cost-sharing, the government was to provide lecturers/teachers to all public tertiary institutions, while parents and beneficiaries were to pay for the tuition and activity fees besides other numerous levies. In 2007, the government started offering tuition education in all public tertiary institutions in Nigeria. That is, in all public institutions, the government started to introduce payment for tuition fees. Parents and beneficiaries still paid for other things like motivation, bed space, caution, development fees as levied by the Boards of Governors. In schools with hostels accommodation, the situation did not become any better as parents and beneficiaries were still to provide boarding facilities like construction of dining halls, providing furniture, accommodation fees and other equipment needed. It was the government’s policy that the number of the tertiary institution should increase and maintained by the owner throughout the country so as to provide a conducive environment for learners from disadvantaged backgrounds besides providing ground for the young people from various parts of the country to mix for national cohesion (Federal Ministry of Education, 2009).
In Nigeria, poverty has affected the education of tertiary education students most especially students from less privilege homes, especially in families where resources are limited. In such families, students are discriminated against when it comes to education with the given preference to the students that have connections with people in the government while those students from the poor are left at home (World Bank, 2009). In the College of Education, Ikere Ekiti, the less privileged students dominated the institution where parents are anchored in their own cultural and socioeconomic standards, they may not have influenced their children to go for an education programme whose values they do not fully embrace. Unless this is brought in to the focus of the learners, the element of earnings foregone in the costs to the families may make the girls to discontinue schooling or not attend school at all (Bregman, 2009). However, with the cost-sharing policy in form of variable costs still in force in tertiary institutions in Nigeria, the education of students in College of Education, Ikere Ekiti where the roles of active participation of cost-sharing policy are more pronounced, activities are quite slashed, the values of education and aims are greatly demeaned. Tuition/school fees and other levies could, therefore, be another source of discouragement not only to the parents but also to the students, some students drop offered of admission because of high tuition fees. The students, whose vision is blurred by cultural practices thus discarding their academic ambitions.
Besides, due to the prohibitive fees and other levies, some parents may act in favour of their cultural beliefs in the absence of strong government policies and opt to withdraw their students from schools. Some parents could offer their children for earlier marriage and use the bride price in the education of their family responsibilities, resulting in the declining enrollment of students in the Nigerian tertiary institutions. Both enrollments and dropouts have been on the increase due to high exorbitant fee. Therefore, as a result of the above, the study was conceived to investigate the effect of an increase in tuition fees on Business Education students’ enrollment in Universities in Ekiti State.
Statement of the Problem
Fees increase has been a serious hindrance to access to quality education in Nigeria at the turn of the century. Okeke (2010) noted that access to education in its full and broad sense means free and unlimited, unhindered, unfettered, opportunities at each level of education to obtain knowledge and skills abilities available at that level. It is a common knowledge that the Nigerian educational system has experienced hindrances in teaching and learning and distortions in the academic calendar as a result of strike actions that have become a common feature in the system. Strike actions and students demonstrations have triggered serious problems for and to all stakeholders in the system.
The nation in order to service external debt and internal burden, (outcomes of globalization) has pushed the universities and other tertiary institutions into Fees increase that has damaging impact and serious implications for education especially in the 21st century. There has been a steady increase in fees since the 1990s. The increase has had a toll on many students who could not continue in their programmes and those who dare not embark on postgraduate (PG) programmes because of high school fees. This has led to students resorting to off-campus accommodation where some are raped, attacked and some killed. This study looked at the Fees Increase at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels where many are working and sponsoring themselves and trying to grapple with fees increase. Some others, after years of unemployment and underemployment just decide to register for Post Graduate. To such, fees increase is an anathema. To others strike actions prolong their duration of the programme which ultimately translates into more fees. Some had had to abandon their programme because of the fees increase. These are unsettling conditions that make it difficult for students to settle to their studies. This study sought to ascertain the impact of fees increase on the undergraduate and postgraduate students programmes and the implications for education in the 21s t century in Nigeria. As a result of the above, the study ascertained the issues in fees increase, the extent to which fees Increase has impacted on students’ academics and smooth continuation of the programme and the implications for 21st-century education. Specifically, this study examines the effect of the increase in tuition fees on Business Education Students’ enrollment in tertiary institutions Ekiti State.

Objectives of the Study
The main objective of the study is to examine the effect of an increase in tuition on Business Education students’ enrollment in tertiary institutions in Ekiti State. The specific objectives of the study sought to:
i. examine how an increase in tuition influences students’ enrollment in tertiary institutions in Ekiti State
ii. examine the reasons for the increase in tuition in tertiary institutions.
iii. assess ways of addressing the effect of the increase in tuition on students enrollment in tertiary institutions in Ekiti State.
iv. find out any differences in the responses of students’ based on their gender and institutions.

Research Questions
The following research questions were generated for the study:
1. In what ways does increase in tuition influence students’ enrollment in tertiary institutions in Ekiti State?
2. What are the reasons for the increase in tuition in tertiary institutions?
3. What are the ways of addressing the effect of the increase in tuition on student’s enrollment in tertiary institutions in Ekiti State?
4. Is there any difference in the students’ responses based on their gender and institutions?
Research Hypothesis
The following research hypothesis were formulated to guide the study:
1. There is no significant relationship between increase in tuition and Business Education student’s enrollment in tertiary institutions in Ekiti State.
2. There is no significant relationship between the causes of increase in tuition and Business Education student’s enrollment in tertiary institutions in Ekiti State.
3. There is no significant relationship between the ways of addressing the challenges of increase in tuition and how to increase Business Education student’s enrollment in Universities in Ekiti State.
4. There is no significant difference in the mean responses of students based on their gender and institutions.
Significance of the Study
The purpose of this study is to carry out research on possible effect of high or increase in tuition fees on Business Education student’s enrollment in Universities in Ekiti State. This is with a view to suggest ways of minimizing and overcoming the problem.
As known by all educators, education and institutions of higher learning play very significant role in child personality formation and socialization, high tuition fees has been identified as one of the factor that undermined the socialization, educational achievement process at schools in Nigeria today, which consequently affect the enrollment of the student in the Nigerian tertiary institution. If the concern of education is to look after socialization and imparting knowledge that can make people to relevant in the society, as well as their intellectual development, then this research work would be of great importance to parents and educators that increase in tuition fee affects the enrollment of students. The role of an institution is that to come up with a solution to ensuring reduction in the tuition fee for the betterment of the students and the society at large is very essential here.

Scope of the Study
The scope and time frame of this research study encompasses the effect of the increase in tuition fees on Business Education student’s enrollment in tertiary institutions in Ekiti State.
Definition of Terms
Education: Education is the process of learning, teaching and training especially in schools or colleges to improve knowledge and develop skills
Tuition Fees: This is the money that students paid to be thought most especially in the university or colleges.
Students: This is a person who study in the university, polytechnic, colleges, secondary and primary schools.
Enrollment: This is the act of officially joining a course in schools or tertiary institutions.