KAMPALA – Makerere University has issued guidelines under which students will pay tuition to the institution through the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA).
The move is in line with the Ministry of Finance April directive where URA is to collect tuition for all government universities across the country in a bid to curb fraud.
“This is to inform you that following the closure of all University Revenue Collection accounts, all fees payments are to be received via the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) portal,” a statement issued by Makerere University Bursar Evarist Bainomugisha reads in part.
It adds: “The implications of this change are as follows; Fees payment will continue to happen in commercial banks most of which have branches on Campus as listed below; Stanbic Bank, DFCU Bank, Centenary Bank, UBA and Post Bank. The other commercial banks receiving fees are; Barclays Bank, Diamond Trust Bank, Bank of Africa, Equity Bank, Finance Trust Bank, Housing Finance Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Tropical Bank and Eco Bank,” the statement adds.
Mr Bainomugisha said no fees payment shall be received without a Payment Reference Number (PRN). “The PRN can be generated through the student portal on the AIMS system. However, assistance can be received from the respective College Accounts Offices,” he said.
He added that fees payment by bank drafts should be addressed to the Uganda Revenue Authority with a cover letter and brought to Room 313, Main Building, Makerere University. “You will then obtain a reference number for payment,” he said.
He said fees payment by Electronic Funds Transfer will also require a PRN generated on the system and the schedule of beneficiaries. These are currently handled by the Revenue Unit in the Main Building, Makerere University.
“You are therefore requested to pay your fees as per your semester invoices assigned to your student accounts after enrolment, as well as indidcated on the provisional admission letters for First-Year Students. For further clarification, please email the following; unibursar[at]admin.mak.ac.ug, finance[at]finance.mak.ac.ug, emmanuel.asiimwe[at]finance.mak.ac.ug, blaise.turyasingura[at]finance.mak.ac.ug.”
While explaining the change of the fees payment system in April, Mr Jim Mugunga, the Finance ministry spokesperson, said the new system is intended to establish how many students each university has and how much money they collect each academic year.
He said the ministry realised that some tuition revenue in some public universities is abused and decided on collecting the fees using a single account by URA to minimise misuse.
“We realised that there was abuse of funds in our institutions of learning because some of the tuition is being collected but not used. Some tuition is stolen while some money just disappears. So, let URA collect this money, let this money come as government revenue and let it be budgeted for and appropriated,” Mr Mugunga said.
