Makerere University administration has urged students to pay tuition on time, saying it will lead to improved service delivery.

 According to the administration, the delay in service delivery is linked to delay in tuition payment, lack of enough human resource, delay in release of marks, endless strikes by students, non-teaching staff and lecturers among other causes. However, the new tuition policy, the administrators said, will see an improvement in all services at the university.

 Unlike the previous tuition policy which required students to pay 60 per cent of tuition within the 6^th week of the semester, the new tuition policy necessitates private students to pay a minimum deposit of Shs 200,000 as a commitment fee within the first three weeks of the semester.  

This policy also has a sur charge of  Shs 20,000 on late registration payable by the 6^th week of the semester, which seems to be fair to the students.  

According Jacklyn Ayorekire, the assistant bursar this policy is totally fair to both students from the rich and poor families.“We don’t expect any student to fail to pay tuition in time for we considered both the poor and rich students. Do your part as students and get your services delivered”,” she said.

Steven Katerega,the deputy Dean of Students Makerere University cautioned students to avoid misusing tuition money. He said, “Some students use tuition money to open up small businesses, betting and others go for shopping. These make such students fail to pay in time and at the end of the day fail to do exams”.

Vicent Ekwang, the Registrar for College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHUSS), the issue of missing marks is mainly due to lack of enough man power. He for example talked of offices that are missing staff because some staff members resigned. However he apologized for the delay of release of students’ results.

Over the years, students have had complaints about the ever wanting service delivery at the university. This has been a root cause of strikes and endless unrest at Makerere university. According to the Christopher Tusiime, the president Makerere University Students Association, “It is very unfortunate that we have to go through this. We have promise to abide by the New Fees policy, but there are issues about missing marks and this is the 7^th week, there is still limited personnel in the registrar’s office something that has slowed down all the work in that office, the toilets are in a sorry state and we really deserve better”

During a fees policy session meeting held on 27thSeptember 2016 at school of languages that was meant to sensitize students about the new tuition policy, graced by administrators, students’ leaders and students. Different issues that hinder service delivery were discussed. Students expressed mixed reactions about this new policy, with a majority embracing it as being fair, but they want to see value for money in terms of service delivery at the campus.

 Steven Mayombwe, GRC School of Languages, Literature and Communication, called upon the administration to ensure good quality service delivery to students after tuition payment.