TO lessen the burden of university education among the congregation of the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC), owners of the Joseph Ayo Babalola University (JABU), Ikeji-Arakeji, Osun State, the institution has begun subsidising tuition fees for members of the church who are students in the institution and those desirous of acquiring degrees in faith-based courses.
The university has also introduced a 20 per cent discount to all students in some courses like Mathematics, Statistics, Geography and Geo-Sciences, Philosophy, Entrepreneurship, Actuarial Science and Insurance which its authorities said “are very significant to national development but are not well subscribed by students due to their assumed abstract or ambiguous nature.”
The decision of the university to reduce fees payable by members of the church to as much as 60 per cent, came on the heels of public outcry against high tuition fees in most of the faith-based institutions which are clearly beyond the reach of most members of their congregations.
Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Sola Fajana, who disclosed the new initiative in his address at the third convocation ceremony of the institution, said it is being done “to encourage parents to allow their children and wards to enjoy the benefits and endowments inherent in this faith-based and serene institution.
“This is also done in fulfillment of the promise made at the inception of our university to give special treatment to members of the CAC that would like to study here or bring their children. It is also done to encourage our men of God to be fully equipped and be at par with their counterparts the world over by acquiring degrees from JABU.”
According to the VC, biological children of members of the CAC congregation anywhere in the world would henceforth enjoy a 15 per cent discount on tuition fees while members of the Church who intend to study Religious or Ministerial Studies at degree level would enjoy 50 per cent discount on fees.
He also disclosed that “all ordained pastors of the CAC that intend to broaden their knowledge by acquiring degrees in religious and ministerial studies would enjoy 60 per cent discount while all other applicants that are neither our members or ordained pastors in our church and who intend to study any of the two courses shall enjoy 40 per cent discount on fees.”
The VC added that the decision to assist the church congregation was not misplaced as members sustain the institution to the tune of N70 million monthly on recurrent expenditures alone which included a heavy wage bill in a university that is reputed to have the highest lecturer-student ration in the country.
Two eminent Nigerians, Pastor D.K. Odukoya, the General Overseer of the Mountain of Fire and Miracle (MFM) Church and the Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola were conferred with hounourary degrees by the institution.
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