Nursing students saddened by tuition increment

Over 350 students of the Phebe PARA Medical School Program in Suakoko District, Bong County have expressed dissatisfaction over the alleged action of the school’s administration to increase tuition.

According to the aggrieved students, the administration is demanding that students pay the amount of US$255 before they can enroll this academic year. The aggrieved students say they signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the government of Liberia for three years.

The students note that after their graduation, the MoU requires them to work for the Liberian Government for two years. They claim that during the signing ceremony of the MoU, government agreed to pay their tuition within the three years while they were given the responsibility of paying US$30 each semester for registration and feeding.

But contrary to the reported MoU, the students are complaining that the administration at Phebe PARA Medical School of Nursing is demanding them to pay US$255 per semester for feeding.

According to the aggrieved students, they cannot afford this amount, calling on government and other well-meaning citizens of Bong County to come to their aid.

The students fear that if no one comes to their aid, they would be out of classes this academic year. “We are struggling students and we don’t have money to pay the amount the school’s administration is talking about. So we need the quick intervention of the government,” student Patience Lablah told our Bong County correspondent.

According to her, if the administration had announced the decision earlier, students would have gone out during the break to prepare themselves financially to pay what is being requested.

But she says they were just told two weeks ago. ”We were just told two weeks ago and we don’t have other alternative, so we want the help of the government immediately,” she concludes.

By Joseph Titus Yekeryan in Bong–Edited by Winston W. Parley