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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of Study

Scholarships are award of financial aid to enable students in their academic pursuit and/or further their education. Scholarships are awarded based on various criteria, which usually reflect the values and purposes of the donor or funder of the award. Scholarship money is not required to be repaid as it is not loan.

However, since 1980s, the use of financial need as the basis for awarding scholarships by the state has been eroding. But in the developed world, the award of scholarships by the state has been on the increase. In the developed world, between 1982 and 2000 spending on need-based scholarships for undergraduates by the states increased to 7.4 percent annually, while spending on merit programs increased at a 13.6 percent annual rate. The proportion of state grants awarded based on merit has risen from 9 percent to 22 percent during this period (Heller, 2002; National Association of State Student Grant & Aid Programs, 2001).

Irrespective of this, students both at the private and public tertiary institutions face varieties of hikes in their tuition and other fees in schools with little or no consideration of parental income, students’ socio-economic status, and other factors that may limit students from continuing their education. Some education analysts and students interviewed believed that the government and/or the proprietors of tertiary schools and the school authorities never wanted the poor to go to school so that the socio-economic class-margin will continue to widen the more. No wonder the incessant hikes in both the tuition and other fees in tertiary institutions in Anambra State.

Consequently, as the tuition fees of these tertiary institutions continue to rise without adequate consideration of the poor students that engages in menial jobs such as: “okada”, “keke-na-pepe”, bus conducting, and so on to pay up their tuition in order to gain formal education. The number of dropouts has continued to increase with most of the dropouts engaging in social evil such as; cultism, armed robbery, fraud stars, kidnapping, touts, and other illegal means livelihood, since the labour market is very competitive and there are no jobs for them. Some graduates go as far as taking up gatemen jobs, security jobs in residential homes, and also employed as car washers in garages.

As a result of this, an alternative to hikes in tuition fees which is the award of financial aid for students to further their education is looked at by this study. These financial aids for students (scholarships) are to be awarded based on various criteria, which includes; athletic scholarship, merit-based, need-based, student-specific, career-specific, and College-specific scholarships, among others.

However, in Anambra State, very few people study on scholarships both from the government, individuals, churches, and non-governmental organisations. Although, remarkable scholarship awarding foundations have contributed immensely in alleviating the sufferings of the peoples of low-income status, it needs to do more. Ikeoha (2013) posits that their 2011-2012 award scheme, granted bursary awards to 282 students in Anambra state. Other scholarship evidenced in Anambra is the federal scholarship board award. Although, this is highly politicised, it has gone a long way to alleviating the plight of the awardees. There are also evidences of scholarships awarded to students by Anambra State government as at the time of this research. The State scholarship board is also doing its best in terms of scholarship award in the State. Hence, this study examines the impact of these financial aids granted to students (scholarships) on the academic performance of students, using tertiary institutions in Anambra State, Nigeria as a case study. Noteworthy here is that in this study, scholarships are seen from the aspect of part or full tuition fees, bursary award to students, and any form of financial grants to students in higher learning in Anambra state.

1.2 Statement of Problem

The Nigerian labour force and Anambra State in particular have continued to establish high qualification standards for employees, ranging from Ordinary National Diploma (OND) to National Certificate of Education (NCE), Higher National Diploma (HND), First Degree certificate (B.Sc., B.Ed., B.A), Master’s Degree certificate (M.Sc., M.Ed., M.A), and now to Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) certificates. This has made jobs to be more competitive with applicants not meeting certain criteria, including those who possess Masters Degrees (M.Sc., M.Ed., M.A) are not hired for certain positions. This has led to the increased quest for higher educational qualification to meet up with the standard. However, lack of finance and poor economic climate has resulted in magnitude number of dropouts in schools thereby, limiting the application pool for many careers obtainable through education. However, as the pool of dropouts expands, a time will reach when employment will be limited because, the labour force will tend to require increased literacy, technology skills, and the ability to be a lifelong learner (Woods, 1995).

Consequently, as the tuition fees of these tertiary institutions continue to rise without adequate consideration of the indigent students including those that engage in menial jobs and so on, to pay up their tuition in order to gain formal education. The number of dropouts has continued to increase with most of the dropouts becoming cultists, armed robbers, fraud stars, kidnappers, touts, and other illegal means of earning livelihood, since the labour market is very competitive and there are no jobs for them. Some, due to frustration, resort to drinking of “kaikai” (ethanol), smoking of Indian hemp, marijuana, and so on, some of them even go insane along the line. These are potential Nigerian and Enugu state futures leaders, who if they had the opportunity, would have contributed their quota in the national and State development. Some graduates go as far as taking up gatemen jobs, security jobs in residential homes, and some are also employed as car washers in garages while others go to apprentice and businesses, which collapse after some years as a result of their inability to manage the business due to lack of and/or half-education to broaden their horizon.

Therefore, in Nigeria and Anambra State in particular, policymakers have frequently focused attention on increasing school inputs or improving teacher attendance, on the assumption that students are motivated to take advantage of these improvements. But scholarships in Anambra State are not given serious attention. This is because, the impact which scholarships can offer both on students’ academic performance and on the economy as a whole is being neglected. Thus, it is pertinent to note here that scholarships may offer an alternative to increased participation in education, thereby leading to more educated people who may in turn have healthier children, increased literacy, increased technological skills, and higher incomes. Moreover, the assumption that students are inherently motivated to pursue education through scholarships and the effect that educational opportunities can have on peoples’ learning in Anambra State, are relatively unexplored. Hence, it is on this footing that this study examines the impact of scholarships on students’ academic achievement using tertiary institutions in Anambra State, Nigeria as a case study.