One of the most popular quotes attributed to Abraham Lincoln, “If education is expensive, try ignorance” has been used times without number to justify heavy educational expenses. For some, there simply isn’t a Dollar or Naira tag too much to be paid for education.
A growing trend worldwide is the increasing cost of education. In 2003, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT tuition and other fees were $29,600 in total per session.
Just two decades later it would cost $82,730 to attend the prestigious institution. A significant $53,130 increase in twenty years.
One reason why I added this prelude from MIT is because of the strong belief I have that most Nigerians view our problems as exceptions and localized anomalies.
For example, as fees were hiked in Nigeria across institutions many complained bitterly failing to realize that this is a global trend. As the quality of education improves, it invariably becomes more expensive.
The reality is that public education is relatively cheap in Nigeria with only eight Federal Universities charging tuition fees in 2019 as per Statista.
Nonetheless, as cheap as it is, many Nigerians still struggle. The goal of this article is to help you gauge your present financial situation, make the best educational decisions for your kids, and manage your finances properly while at it.
What is your annual income?
One way to get deep into financial distress is to make decisions without considering your net income. According to experts at Investor Times, tuition and school fees shouldn’t take up more than 20% of your net income.
Assuming you earn N200,000 per month and N2,400,000 per year, you shouldn’t spend more than N480,000 on your children’s fees.
This may seem like a no-brainer to keep fees small as compared to your net take home but the opposite is usually the case.
How many people have tried to “keep up with the Joneses”, sent their kids to ultra-expensive schools, and struggled to meet up?
Are ultra-expensive secondary and primary schools worth it?
According to PayScale, the average wage in Lagos stands at N2m per annum. Also, households have an average of three kids in Nigeria as per Nigeria Bureau of Statistics NBS. This means a household pays fees for an average of three children.
As per a September 2023 Guardian survey in Lagos sampling a few schools in the state, fees were between N240,000 and N450,000.
Some schools increased fees by almost 200% “to cater for the current economic difficulties”. If the average fee is N200,000 per term and three terms in a year, this means fees would amount to N600,000 per year per child and N1.8m for three children. This is almost the average annual income of Lagos workers!
Another league is the ultra-expensive secondary schools with fees running to as high as N4.7m per year.
However, are these schools worth the price tag? Well, let’s look at some data from high-flying students in the last year for insight.
Best Jamb Student 2023
- Name: Kamsiyochukwu Chinyere Umeh
- School: Deeper Life High School Mowe
- School Fees per annum: N1.1m (as at 2022)
Cowbell Mathematics Competition 2023
- Name: Joseph Okechukwu and Adoga Agbo Daniel.
- School: Graceland School Port Harcourt
- School fees per annum: N950,000(as at 2023)
Best Waec Student 2023
- Name: Kamsiyochukwu Chinyere Umeh
- School: Deeper Life High School Mowe
- School Fees per annum: N1.1m (as at 2022)
As these numbers suggest, the schools that produced some of the best performers were pricey but not in the ultra-high category. As expected, quality education doesn’t come very cheap but anything exorbitantly expensive may just be an overkill.
Choosing the school for your kids using a financial framework
To effortlessly pay the fees of your kids without financial stress you may consider choosing the school using this financial framework.
- Determine 20-30% of your annual income: The first part of this financial framework is determining the upper limit you can spend on your kids’ education from a sound financial stance. This is typically between 20-30% of your income. If you earn N2,000,000 per annum, this should be N400,000 to N600,000 per year. You shouldn’t have any business scanning schools that cost N1.5m. This is like trying to buy a Lamborghini Urus when your wage range isn’t even close.
- Calculate how much each child would cost: Now that you know the range you can comfortably spend, you need to determine how much it would cost for each child. Younger kids are usually cheaper to cater to as their textbooks, playbooks, etc are generally relatively inexpensive compared to your much older children.
Do a SWOT analysis on the schools that fall within that price range: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats SWOT is a classic analysis tool that is often regarded as a sound tool for making rational decisions.
It considers a few options, weighs them, and gives them a weighted score according to how they perform. After determining the price range you are ready to spend for your kids using the 20-30% rule, a range of schools would fall into a certain bracket for consideration.
Now determine each’s strength, weakness, opportunity, and threat. Weakness for an option may be proximity to your home for example, or bad staff reception.
Opportunities for some schools may be options for foreign exchange programs special scholarship access etc.
After your SWOT analysis, the best option would be apparent.
