Head of Halls at the University of Ghana (UG), Dr. Wiafe Akenteng has appealed to students of the University to brace themselves for an increment in residential fees.

Speaking with JoyNews, Dr. Akenteng urged students to be willing to pay more for residential fees to enable the University expand accommodation facilities on campus.

He said inability of parents or guardians and students to afford any increment in residential fees would stall efforts to resolve the accommodation crisis.

“Sometimes you ask students to pay more or you ask parents to pay more and it becomes like we are going on aluta and I think that if we continue to pay this GH₵510 per semester for traditional halls, we are not going to make much progress.

So my appeal is that in as much as we all understand that our pockets are not enough, since education is important, we need to concentrate on that and be willing to pay more, so that existing facilities could not only be improved, but probably to help us put up a new one. For instance, we have space for Legon Annex D, but we don’t have the funds,” he said.

The University is currently facing accommodation challenges for this year’s admission, an issue which has been a norm every year.

This year, just like previous ones, many freshers have been left stranded and not able to secure accommodation ahead of the commencement of academic activities.

While the University is yet to come out with the number of students admitted, it is clear that the majority of the students would have to look elsewhere for accommodation.