The cost of university in Nigeria goes beyond tuition, accommodation and feeding. The real cost is harder to quantify, and most times, it is not even talked about.
The Reality
Yes, it is your responsibility as a student to show up and do your part academically. But when there is no real system in place to check your mental state, your environment, or your capacity to keep going, what exactly are we measuring success with?
An average student is carrying more than their course load. There is pressure to perform, pressure not to fall behind. Public or private, the pressure looks different, but the weight feels the same.
The Academic System
The system itself is not designed with the student in mind. It is built to keep moving and expects everyone to keep up because the goal was never you. The goal was output.
In some schools, it looks like ASUU strikes that turn 4-year degrees into 6-year marathons. Congrats, you got two extra years free. Just kidding, you paid with your sanity. Since 1999, ASUU has gone on strike over 16 times. The average student spends 4 extra months per strike watching their timeline collapse, with no counselling, no apology, and no plan.
Nobody is asking what it costs to keep up because the lecturer-to-student ratio is 1:100 in many public universities (NUC) compared to the recommended 1:30 by UNESCO.
Students are burning out, shutting down, and slipping into survival mode that leaves no room for recovery. Some are not even here anymore.
At what point do we start questioning the structure?
Nigeria’s suicide rate sits at 17.3 per 100,000, above the global average (WHO). One in five Nigerians lives with a mental health disorder, and young people carry a large share of it. This reflects a system that demands output without checking wellbeing.
How do students manage themselves?
Is the university system raising healthy citizens?
Pay Attention To Your Mental Health.Â
The system may not change quickly, but you still have a choice in how much of yourself you give to it. Protecting your health in a system that ignores it is your best bet. Your life is not something to gamble with.
Your body has been speaking for a while. Exhaustion is a message. Anxiety is a signal. Burnout is a warning sign. Ignoring it does not make you stronger. It only delays the crash. No grade, no semester, no degree is worth your life. Let that live rent-free in your mind.
Campus Cares is holding space for every student, keeping it together on the outside. We see you, and you’ve got this. Koreans will say, ‘fighting!’. Drop this in someone’s DM who needs it.
Follow Campus Cares on all social media handles for more like this.
By Mosimiloluwa D.K