Kumasi Polytechnic Students Cry Over 40 Percent Fee Hike

kumasi polytechnic fee hike

Students of Kumasi Polytechnic (K-Poly) have raised concerns over proposed increases in fees for the 2013/2014 academic year, and are, therefore, calling on the government to reconsider the whole increment.

Some students, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described the 2013-2014 fees as 'outrageous'.

"We have to get money for our hostels, learning materials and, above all, provisions, and the proposed fee increment is a bother to parents and guardians," they noted, and called for Presidential intervention to arrest this situation.

We gathered that the three faculties of the school, namely Faculty of Business Management, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Engineering and the Institute of Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development have been affected by the said increases.

Notices to that effect, sighted, indicate a 40% hike in fees, following the reported removal of subsidies and assistance by the government, compelling the authorities of the institution to pass on the removed subsidies to the students.

Students in the HND Accounting , HND Marketing and HND Purchasing and Supplying and HND Accounting with Computing departments would now have to pay GH¢894, GH¢747 and GH¢742 in the first, second and third years, with HND Secretariat-ship and Manager paying GH¢909, GH¢762 and GH¢757.

BTech students hardest hit

First years offering BTech Accounting with computing would now pay GH¢1,014.

BTech Accounting with technology students who paid GH¢631 last year as admission fee without departmental dues would have to pay GH¢867 under the revised fees, which include departmental dues as well.

The fees varied at the faculty of Business and Management Studies, as students in the HND HCM department have to raise GH¢928, GH¢781 and GH¢781 for the first, second and third years respectively.

Fees had also increased in the HND Computer Science, HND Mathematics, and Statistics departments as GH¢936, GH¢789 and GH¢789 and GH¢916, GH¢769 and GH¢769 respectively.

While those for the HND Electrical and Electronic and Civil Engineering departments of the Faculty of Engineering are to pay GH¢918, GH¢791.00 and GH¢831 over the three year period, students pursuing HND Chemical Engineering will have to pay GH¢943, GH¢816 and GH¢856 respectively in the first, second and third years of their course of study.

Fees for the first, second, and third years at the HND Mechanical Engineering department were stated as GH¢778, GH¢791 and GH¢831, with students pursuing HND Entrepreneurship and Finance at the Institute of Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development department having to contend with GH¢985, GH¢843 and GH¢846.

The re-sit fee has also been hiked from GH¢5 to GH¢10.

The Students Representative Council (SRC) President, Mr. Benjamin Sakyi, who claimed the student body had not been consulted on the decision to increase fees, told The   that the SRC executive engaged the school authorities in a meeting, but could not reach a consensus, hence the appeal to the government to pay the cost of students project work supervision, which has not been paid for some time now.

Fees Are Reasonable

Meanwhile, the Vice Rector of the school, Dr. George Owusu-Dapaah, has admitted the hikes, which he described as reasonable, because they include the departmental dues.

According to him, the institute had to factor a lot of things into play to arrive at the increases to bring Kumasi Polytechnic to a desired level.

Mr. Awuah Dapaah, Director of Finance, in an interview with The   indicated that the school had been operating under a deficit over the years. He said upon investigations, the school authorities realised that the school was charging lower fees as compared to other sister polytechnics in Ghana.

According to him, remunerations, stationery and invigilation fee among others, had been adjusted, saying the ninvigilation fee had been adjusted from GH¢2 to GHc¢5.

He said there had been mistakes in the new fees for final year students, which had been rectified.

He complained that the Ghana Educational Trust Fund (GETFund), which was to fund the building of infrastructure, has not been able to fulfill this obligation, hence the need for the school to embark on its 300 acre Kuntanase project in the Bosomtwe District.