Makerere Student 'Leaders' Accept Draft Fees Policy,  Propose Minor Changes

Written by: 
CHRISTOPHER TUSIIME

The 82nd Makerere University students' guild leadership has, after making minor changes, accepted the proposed fees policy that was put forward for discussion by the search committee.

The proposed policy States that all students should pay a commitment fee of Shs 200,000, within the first two weeks of each semester to enable them register as students of the University. The fee has been maintained by the GRC (Guild Representative Council) members, only that they have proposed a change in the length of period the payment should be done.

"Registration will be open to everyone in the first 3weeks of the semester and beyond that there will be a late registration fee of Shs 50.000 to be paid by a student," reads part of their communication to students' body.

Additionally, there were three proposed modes of payment that were proposed by the search committee that was instituted by Prime Minister Ruhakana  Rugunda last month, and were termed as "Window Policy". These were also changes proposed for review before the policy can be adopted before the a new academic year, 2016/2017, starts.

"New students (freshers) will have to pay 100% functional fees and 60% of tuition to be issued an admission letter. Beyond the 12th week, a student who wouldn't have cleared their fees will pay a fine of 5% of their remaining balance," States the two-paged statement.

However, the decision by these GRCs do adopt the policy has, as expected, been criticised by some students who insist the best policy is payment towards examination period - at the end of the semester.

Students also argue that they didn't have proper representatives, as the GRCs, who were elected haven't been sworn in yet, on top of not having a guild president.