UNIT COST OF UNIVERSITY EDUCATION AND ITS ECONOMIC IMPLICATION FOR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS: A CASE OF SELECTED PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES IN UASIN GISHU COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

Education is a very crucial foundation for the advancement of any given nation in social, political and economic terms. This is because of the role played by education in enhancing economic growth, productivity, national development, and social equality. This is the reason why individuals, families and governments of different countries of the world continue to invest so much at all educational stages. The aim of this research work was to find out the unit cost of university education and its economic implication for students in private university campuses in Kenya, to be precise, the County of Uasin Gishu. This study’s objectives were to; find out the unit cost of university education households incurred on their children in private universities, compare the unit cost of university education among private universities, determine the challenges that households incurred in their effort to finance their children pursuing education in private universities, and compare the unit cost of university education for graduate production across programs. The study was done basing on the theory of human capital. The research design that was used in this study was the descriptive design. This research work focused on 420 fourth year students and 2 deans of students of 2 private university campuses. A sample size of 205 respondents was used; 203 students and 2 deans of students. The respondents were selected using stratified random sampling, simple random sampling and purposive sampling techniques. Data was collected using questionnaires and interview schedule. As far as validity is concerned, content validity and face validity were adopted in this study. Cronbach’s alpha co – efficient was used to measure reliability. Data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics. The study findings revealed that majority of students spent more than Ksh.100, 000 on tuition fees in an academic year, more than Ksh.10, 000 on books and other materials, above Ksh. 3, 000 on clothing, more than Ksh.50, 000 on accommodation, more than Ksh. 25, 000 on transport, less than Ksh.25, 000 as pocket money, donations and trips in an academic year. Amount of tuition paid in the first private university was high than that paid by students in the second private university. Lack of enough finance for basic needs was the major challenge that households were facing in regards to financing university education. Other challenges included sanitation, delayed bursaries funds, delay of HELB loan and security. Bachelor of commerce in the first private institution was more expensive than that of the second private institution. The study concluded that majority of students spent more than Ksh.100, 000 on tuition fees in an academic year in the private universities. Besides amount of tuition paid in private universities, students incurred further expenses on books and other materials, clothing, transport, examination fee, pocket money and other miscellaneous expenses such as donations and trips. Lack of enough finance for basic needs, sanitation, delayed bursaries funds, delay of HELB loan and security were the major challenges households encountered in financing university education for their children. Private universities should invest in books and other materials so as to reduce the average amount of money spent on financing the education of university students incurred by households.