KAMPALA, UGANDA: The Law Development Centre (LDC) has increased tuition fees by 12% further adding a financial burden to the struggling students, parents and guardians amid a ‘tight’ economy.
The 12% addition now means that the cost for the Bar Course for Ugandan and East African applicants which has originally been at shs5 million will now be at shs 6 million with a shs 1 million increase.
Applicants outside Uganda and East Africa will fork an extra $600 (Shs2.3m) from $2,400 (Shs9.1m) to $3,000 (Shs11.4m).
The cost of the Diploma in Law and the Diploma in Human Rights has been maintained at Shs2.5m while the fees for foreigners have been raised from $1,750 (Shs6.6m) to $2,000 (Shs7.6m).
Prospective Administrative Officers Law Course students will have to pay an extra Shs50,000 from Shs950,000 to Shs1m.
Students repeating a failed subject will have to look for an extra Shs500,000 in the revised fees. The fees for those repeating a “compulsory subject group A” have been revised from Shs1.5m to Shs2m while those repeating compulsory subject group B and C have been raised from Shs1m to Shs1.5m.
The LDC joins a long list of other institutions like public and private primary and secondary schools which have snubbed government orders and guidance from authorities to not hike their respective fees.
Several prospective students who had shelved plans to join the bar course last year as they raise funds were left wondering how they will shoulder the Shs1m increment.
“You don’t just add [Shs]1m in a tight economy like this,” a current bar course student wondered.
Others accused LDC of being a “ruthless money making venture”. Another student due to join the institution accused the centre of “attempting to reduce the numbers.”
Established by an Act, the LDC offers practical training for legal practitioners. The institution has the monopoly in teaching the postgraduate diploma in legal practice.
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