Management of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) and students union have agreed on new tuition fees following a downward review of the fees announced last week.

Officials of the university and students’ union leaders said the latest review followed a meeting involving them and other stakeholders on Friday.

“We are done with the meeting,” Students’ Union President, Mr Abiodun Oluwaseyi, stated in a text message he sent to this newspaper Friday evening.

According to Mr Oluseun, “300- 500 level students will now pay N90,000 for indigenes and N100,000 for non-indigenes. The 200 level will remain N120,000 and N150,000 for indigenes and non-indigenes respectively and incoming 100 level indigenes will pay N140,000 while their non indigenes counterpart will pay N170,000.”

The university had in July announced that students who are indigenes of Oyo and Osun states would pay N200,000 while others would pay N250,000 from 2018/19 session.

The announcement led to wild protests by students in Ogbomoso and Osogbo where the university has campuses.

Apparently influenced by these protests, the university through a mail to students last week Friday from the office of the Registrar, Mr Jacob Agboola, said the increment had been reviewed downward.

According to the mail, indigenes would pay N140,000 per session while others would pay N170,000.

But some students condemned the fees regime and the students’ union also threatened to sue the school.

It was against that backdrop that the management met leaders of the students on Friday.

Before the first increment of fees last year after the school was shut down for months by workers over poor funding, returning students who are indigenes of Oyo and Osun states paid N63,500 as tuition fee, while their non-indigene colleagues paid N72,500.

When the school reopened, the present 100-level students from Oyo and Osun states were charged N120,000 while the other 100-level students paid N150,000 as part of the resolution to improve internally generated revenue.

The owner Oyo and Osun state governments last week distanced themselves from the increment announced at that time.

A member of the Governing Council and President of the alumni association, Onilede Solomon, described the new development as positive.

PT