Parents of self-sponsored students at Egerton University Nakuru Town Campus are up in arms with the University Administration over a new fees payment scheme.
The scheme requires students to have a zero fee balance before registering on an online student’s registration portal that the university introduced last year.
Learning and other normal activities at the campus were disrupted for the better part of Wednesday when about one thousand undergraduate students under the self-sponsored programme protested over the new fees payment and semester registration guidelines.
Nelson Njoroge who is a parent, in a reaction to the students’ protests over the new directive, told this writer in Nakuru town on Wednesday that the University management was not providing a fair playing ground for parents, students and the management.
Njoroge who works at the county government’s finance Ministry noted that the whole burden lies with parents who work around the clock to raise fees.
He said that the University management’s decision not to register students for academic activities without full payment of fees was a direct frustration of academic endeavours of the students most whom do not benefit from government fees Bursary Fund and loans from the Higher Education Loans Board.
“This directive will have a very big impact on academic endeavours of the students and parents’ financial status. It is not a fair game. We know that the University needs money to run learning and administrative activities, but it should also consider the financial burdens parents have because they have other children in other colleges, Universities and other learning institutions. There are also other financial commitments,’’ lamented Njoroge.
He observed that many students will be forced to defer their studies due to the new fees and registration requirements.
Another parent Eunice Wainaina, a bank employee in Nakuru said the University should consult parents over fees matters without necessarily involving students.
While supporting the protest by the students, she noted that it was not students who look for fees but their parents and guardians hence students should be left out of such matters.
The University students finance department has been allowing students to pay at least 50% of fees before registering for semesters and pay outstanding fees before registering for exams towards the end of the semester.