In September, the university transitioned from Academic Information Management System -AIMS to the Academic Management Information System- ACMIS, a new records management system, which affected payments.
A section of
Makerere University students is struggling to raise tuition which they diverted
when the online payment system was non-functional.
In September, the university transitioned from Academic Information Management
System -AIMS to the Academic Management Information System- ACMIS, a new records
management system, which affected payments.
However, at
the end of last week, the system was restored to enable payment of tuition.
This caught some students unaware especially those who had diverted the money
for personal use.
George William Asajja who is a finalist says that he was forced to borrow some
money from a friend and top up part of the tuition he had spent when he was
told that the online system had been restored.
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just endure”//
According to Asajja, he was tempted to use part of his tuition to buy food
which his parents could not provide after struggling to raise the tuition.
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Masitula
Nakiyemba, another finalist says that she spent her tuition of 980,000 Shillings
hoping to recover it before the payment system was restored.
“When the system started working this week I had only 98,000 Uganda Shillings
left. Every day I would use 10,000 shillings and spend it on transport or
airtime. Now I have to get someone to borrow from.”
Another
student Angella Nakassi revealed that to avoid being tempted to use the tuition,
she decided to give it to a friend who saved it for her. She says that when the
payment system was restored, she cleared the fees.
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had my …
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the money”//
Abel Okot a second-year student said that the postponement of tuition payment was a
blessing because his parents had not raised the fees.
However, he
adds that since the online payment system is functional, he has to devise means
of clearing money for two semesters.
“The
deadline for tuition payment is detrimental because I do not have money at the
moment. My parents can only afford to clear in installments.”
The Academic
Registrar in a circular released this week noted that the students have been
given up to the end of the week to pay registration and payments for the semester.
Until last
year, the university had been using a privately owned online tuition payment
system Academic Information Management System-AIMS whose license expired
leading to public universities developing their own, Academic Management Information
System- ACMIS.
Over time,
several cases of students spending tuition in investing in business, betting,
and leisure among others have been higher in institutions of learning.
Shiphrah Kwagala
Freelancer