2022/2023 Academic User Fees: Education Minister Directs Universities To Refund Unapproved Fees

• The education ministry has directed public tertiary institutions to refund fees charged students above the 15% approved by Parliament
• The directive follows a meeting between the minister of education Dr Yaw Adutwum and some public tertiary institutions
• There have been some agitations on the tertiary education front regarding claims that some schools are charging fees above the legal 15%

The education ministry has said public universities that set their academic facility user fees above the approved 15% must refund the difference to students.

Spokesperson for the ministry Kwasi Kwarteng who announced this did not name any public university in particular but suggests that some of them may have received “illegal” fees from students for the 2022/2023 academic year.

“Any person that paid more than the approved fees should have his or her money refunded and this, the University authorities agreed to,” he told Citi News.

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He was confident that the universities would comply with the directive and ruled out any likely sanctions on offending institutions.

His comments follow a meeting between the public universities and the minister of education Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum. The Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), which regulates aspects of public tertiary institutions’ activities was also in the meeting.

The meeting was to resolve agitations by parents and some interest groups like the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) over astronomical fees increases at some public universities for the 2022/2023 academic year.

NUGS vowed to resist the illegal fees charged by some of the public universities. But some universities insisted they have not set fees higher that what Parliament approved.

University of Ghana Increases Academic Facilities User Fees For 2022/2023 Academic Year

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Meanwhile, YEN.com.gh has reported that the University of Ghana has announced it will be charging students more for academic facility user fees for the 2022/2023 academic year.

The university explains that cost of operation has risen significantly and hence had no other option than increase academic facility user fees.

Although university says it has increased the fees consistent with a 15% approved by Parliament for all public tertiary institutions, some parents say the university has charged more.

The university said it had suspended charging the 15% increases since the 2019/2020 academic year when its request for an increase in academic user fees was first approved by Parliament.

Source: YEN.com.gh