How Much an Education Really Costs

How much an education really cost?
The question is detrimental, paralyzin' my thoughts
Parasites in my stomach keep me with a gut feeling…
- Dubbed from How Much a Dollar Cost by Kendrick Lamar

N 11,480,000 ($ 36473) is the rough estimate of the price of my tuition fees alone since primary school till when I left my A-level program last year. This sum total is not included with additional charges like books, extracurricular activities and educational items or stationaries. It is a whole lot of money if you ask me.

Many people can argue that it is understandable that you have to pay so much to get quality education for your ward. Yes, I guess it is understandable that you have to be able to cough up forty thousand dollars so your child will be able to spell their name properly and grasp basic mathematical formulas and apply literature fundamentals.



All the schools I went to up until last year have been private schools. I understand that you might say ‘Oh, but it was you that chose to go to a private school.’ Before we continue down that road I’ll remind you my dear reader, one of the fundamental laws of successful negotiation is having the upper hand. Whether you choose to accept it or not private schools and public schools put forth offers to the Nigerian fee payer. The fee payer in turn looks at both offers, checks his bank account and compromises according to the amount he sees there. If he doesn’t have too much he opts to pay for the public school because at least he can get a semblance of education for a fair price, but if he does have a stronger substantial income he opts for the higher quality but more exorbitant option: the private school (at least in normal cases).

Truth be told, the eleven million naira spent on my basic and secondary education is nearly not as much as the twenty million a few of my other mates have confessed to have spent. So, I began to ask myself, is this normal? Is it normal to pay 40 – 80 thousand dollars to get a proper education?

Unilag Main Gate

To a certain extent it is normal to pay so much for a private school education. In the US, the price of a private high school tuition per year is within the range of 6000 – 35000 dollars. However, the difference is that you can still get a quality education from a public school for 0 – 300 dollars a year. It is a psychological bullying at least to be forced to pay so much to affirm your ward’s wellbeing and at worst it is an infringement of a child’s constitutional right to education.

Enough with basic education… let us delve into the wrynecked world of Nigerian universities. The good news is that unlike the case of the primary school and secondary schools; the fee payer has a better choice. There is still a fair amount of debate that argue in favor of public schools in this realm. I have conducted surveys and it is safe to say that it is a 50 – 50. Both institutions have their ups and downs in nearly roughly equal amounts.

When considering the price of education many people don’t consider other sacrifices except money. For example, there have been cases of sexual exploitation with girls (yes, in both private and public schools), there have been issues of ‘pay-to-pass’ and whatnot.

Emotional sacrifices in terms of poor standard of living in public schools all over the country. There have been reports of horrible public toilets in the University of Lagos. With people even having to resort to using buckets as makeshift toilets. Then the ever-persistent break out of cultism, so bad that students are robbed off their electronic devices on gunpoint. In some extreme cases, cultists fight even during examinations. However, these problems are not solely public schools’ there was a cultism break out in ABUAD just last year as well that led to the arrest and detention of many innocent students. Making them officially ex-convicts for almost no apparent reason.

The price of education is quite a lot if you ask me. To what end? Only to leave school as a software engineer that doesn’t even know what JavaScript is or as a lawyer with the mentality that the law is ‘too serious’.

WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?
Truth is we have to up our game, Nigeria.