UNILAG denies fee hike, attributes changes to NELFUND

The University of Lagos (UNILAG) management has denied increasing tuition or other charges for the institution’s undergraduate students.

The UNILAG management noted that recent adjustments seen on students’ portals reflect a restructuring in line with the Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) directive.

Students had, on Tuesday, October 28, 2025, protested what appeared to be a sharp rise in certain charges on their portals, after the department and faculty dues, which were N2,000 in the 2024/2025 academic session, rose to N15,000, while the Tertiary Institutions Students Health Insurance Programme (TISHIP) was increased from N5,000 to N7,500.

The newly listed charges include entrepreneurship (N5,000), portal maintenance (N15,000), student insurance policy (N1,250), student support services (N1,250), professional services (N7,500), and general studies (GST) at N5,000.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the UNILAG spokesperson, Adejoke Alaga-Ibraheem, noted that the figures only represent a consolidation of existing payments, not an increase.

NELFUND disburses ₦116.4bn student loans to 624,000 students

Alaga-Ibraheem said the adjustment aligns with NELFUND’s instruction for institutions to centralise all student payments on the official university portal to streamline the loan application process.

“This ensures that once students make payments through their official portal, no additional fees will be collected at the faculty or departmental levels,” she said.

Alaga-Ibraheem added that the integration aims to make the system more transparent and beneficial to students applying for educational loans.

“It’s in the students’ best interest. When they apply for NELFUND support, they will get funding that covers all legitimate school-related charges in one central payment system,” the UNILAG spokesperson added.

She further explained that the differences in the amounts displayed on portals are based on programme-specific requirements, stressing that the move should not be mistaken for a fee increment.

The Star