University Funding and Financial Autonomy: Issues and Challenges for Public and Private Universities in Nigeria

Abstract

THE employment of strategies for funding by university administrators to drive operations cannot be over emphasised. In the light of present-day economic challenges, where institutions, government agencies, departments and the government at the three levels are struggling to pay salaries and meet up with other administrative costs, private and public universities as well as colleges of education and polytechnics whose vision is skewed towards excellence and productivity, cannot afford to completely depend on tuition fee for financing and sustainability. The cause of financial setback in most tertiary institutions is premised on relying on one source of revenue generation. For most private universities, they mainly depend on fees from students, while for public universities, government monthly subventions and student tuition fees are predominantly the sources of revenue; yet, the challenges are continually on the ascendancy. Thus, the aim of this chapter is to x-ray factors driving university self–financing (funding) in the present-day university education system in Nigeria and financial autonomy of the universities including the challenges of universities’ funding and financial autonomy.