Parental Financial Commitment to Undergraduates’ Welfare in Southwestern Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined the impact of parental financial commitment to undergraduates’ welfare. The research adopted a descriptive research design. The study took place in a rural-based state university. Participants in the study included three hundred undergraduates who were selected through a purposive random sampling technique from the eight departments in the faculty of education. Interview and a self-designed questionnaire were used for data collection. This was designed to gather information on undergraduates’ parental financial commitment to their welfare and how the parental commitment informs their through-put-rate. Data were analysed using frequency counts and percentage, and Chi-square statistics. The results indicated that parents are not committed financially to the welfare of their undergraduate children; parental financial commitment informed the through-put-rate of undergraduates. The study revealed there is a significant relationship between parental financial commitment and through-put-rate of undergraduates. This study has contributed to academic literature on the difficulties undergraduates encounter when their tuition-fees could not be paid at the appropriate time. Based on the results, it is suggested students, guardians and parents take prompt payment of tuition-fees serious, while provision of other welfare needs make live convenient for undergraduates. Social welfare intervention programmes from the institution and the society in general are advised to be arranged and provided for serious students that could not afford paying their tuition-fees.