Parents negotiate part payment of school fees to cushion economic hardship

As the economic situation in Nigeria continues to bite harder, owing to the dwindling oil price and its aftermath effect on the economy, parents with children in school paying institutions have intensify their clamour for a staggered payment of fees to cushion the financial burden, even as schools resume, BusinessDay findings have shown.

Affected parents, who pay an average of between N100,000 and N300,000 per term for their children in private schools, say staggered payment of fees have become necessary as the current economic situation has in no small way affected their purchasing power.

Investigations show that the Parents Teachers Associations (PTAs) or forum in mostly private schools, in their various meetings with school management, continue to clamour for staggered payment as alternative measure to cushioning their present situation.

Some parents who spoke with BusinessDay argue that with the increased pressure on family budgets, owing to the economic situation, the options of two to three instalments of payment will help them plan their finances, which could help ease this burden.

Adewale Fakare, a parent with three children in private schools in Lagos, says the economic situation in the country currently is giving him hard time paying his children schools tuition.

Fakare says the option of staggered payment will go a long way to help him survive the current challenge, saying failure by private school managers to help may force parents who are unable to pay the fees to seek schools with lower fees or even try public schools.

He however observes that his decision to seek such alternative payment idea would not have arisen in the first place if government had addressed the issue of education in public schools.

Andrew Ojo, who just paid his two daughters’ fees before resumption, says the challenge is very difficult for him and his household.

Ojo says the condition with the schools his children attend is that there is no such option for staggered payment, because the management insists full payment to mitigate issue with some parents defaulting.

Graham Stothard, principal of Grange School, Lagos, while commenting on the current economic situation, insists that proposition by parents for staggered payment would only apply when such parents can show a workable payment plan, observing that the issue of default payment is an area the school cannot afford to joke with.

According to Stothard, “Yes, the fees that parents pay are very high, but what I tell parents is that the standard we give is about the highest in the continent, although we are highly priced, but not the highest in Nigeria. If parent wants to have the kind of result that Grange produces consistently, it will cost money.”

Stothard says further that he has over the years had issues with parents who find it difficult to pay the fees on time or even pay at all, bearing in mind the school needs money to run effectively.

“If parents are struggling to pay termly, it will be even difficult to create such opportunity for staggered payment,” he said.

He opines that his school is even hard hit owing to the fact that they get their funds from London, “you will understand that the economy is hitting us to the same way that parents are being hit too.”

KELECHI EWUZIE