Monrovia — The president of the University of Liberia Dr. Julius Sarwolo Nelson is calling on both graduate and undergraduate students at the university to pay their fees to enable the university to run smoothly.
The university’s president made the disclosure when he announced the result of the placement exam for both the graduate and undergraduate.
“The arrears over the past time for the graduate and professional school is US$1.4 million. Undergraduate is between L$2,500 to L$3,000 for anyone to pay [per semester]. That is why I am pleading to, especially the undergraduate students. Guys pay small thing to run the university,” Dr. Nelson said.
He further said: “Please pay the money so we can keep running the University. You cannot call yourself a university student when you do not have registration complete. For you to qualify to be a current student of the University of Liberia, you must pay the fee. We are appealing to the faculty that every student should show their registration complete or their ID card before they can administer a test to them.”
When asked whether the free tuition is beneficiary to the university since its inception by President Weah more than three years ago, Dr. Nelson said unlike before where the University used to run behind individuals who would make promises to pay students fees, the scheme has enabled the university to run smoothly.
Dr. Nelson said, “The free tuition policy has prevented us from constantly running behind individuals who over the time made commitments to the students’ scholarship fund drive.”
He continued “The free tuition scheme is working for me. Before I became president of the University, I was Dean of Students and we had to run behind more than 300 sponsors from all over the country whom all were waiting for the Ministry of Finance to pay them before paying us. Today, I do not have to be waiting on the 300 individuals. Only go to the Ministry of Finance, get the understanding, get my cheek and we move on.”
UL president said: “For the graduate and the professional school that does not affect them. If you want a graduate degree or want to go for professional education then you need to pay for it. We are appealing to the people that owe the university to clear their arrears and we will have no problem in running the university.”