The Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) has ordered the University of Ghana (UG) to immediately reverse its over 25 per cent fee increment for the 2025/2026 academic year.
According to GTEC, the University of Ghana must reverse the 25% fee hikes, or it will face sanctions.
Prof. Ahmed Jinapor Abdulai, the GTEC Director-General, in a letter dated January 5, 2026, addressed to the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, stated that UG, in some cases, introduced new charges without the required approval.
GTEC statement added that UG’s action contravenes an earlier directive issued on November 3, 2025, which instructed all publicly funded tertiary institutions not to implement any fee increases without parliamentary approval.
The Commission ordered the University of Ghana to immediately reverse all fee increments and suspend the collection, adding that students who have already paid the increased fees should have the excess amounts credited to their accounts the next academic year.
Also, final year students who have paid are also to be refunded the difference, adding that all SRC and GRASSAG charges must be reverted to the previous academic year’s rates.
Meanwhile, the management of the University of Ghana (UG) has explained that the over 25% increase in academic fees for the 2025/2026 academic year is due to the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) and the Graduate Students’ Association of Ghana (GRASAG).
According to the management of the University of Ghana, the fee hike is attributed to fees imposed by the SRC and GRASAG to support their activities.
The UG management urged students to communicate their grievances to their respective student leadership bodies.
Speaking to Citi News, the Pro Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Professor Gordon Awandare, stated, “What is being reported as fee increases relates to third-party fees imposed by student leadership. These are fees approved through their own governance structures and communicated to students over two weeks ago.
University management did not impose these fees. If students have issues with these charges, they should take them up with their SRC or GRASAG leadership. These fees are mant to support student programmes and activities”.
He added, “When you look at the fees about GHS2000 for an entire academic year at Ghana’s premier university, it is difficult to describe them as excessive. Utilities and operational costs have increased significantly, yet university fees have largely remained unchanged since 2022.
Even the students themselves recognise that the previous fee levels were no longer realistic under current economic conditions, which is why they have adjusted their component of the fees to match the cost of running their activities.” he said.