Cost of undergraduate pharmacy training in Nigeria

Background: Private costs of undergraduate pharmacy training have been on the rise as a result of economic crisis all over the world due to COVID 19, wars and problems peculiar to different nations.

Objectives: As a result, this study sought to determine the private costs of acquiring an undergraduate pharmacy degree in Nigeria and compare these costs across public and private universities.

Methods: The study was a descriptive survey of 1361 pharmacy students in 18 accredited pharmacy schools in Nigeria. Stratified random sampling was used to draw the sample from the population. Primary data was obtained with the use of a set of pretested questionnaires while secondary data was obtained from the administrative offices of the schools involved. Data were processed using frequencies, percentages, weighted averages and analysed with Chi square and ANOVA.

Results: The result showed the average cost of studying pharmacy in a private university for five years to be ₦6,620,942.90 ($16,088.21) and that of public universities to be ₦2,058,558.36 ($5,002.09). It also revealed that there was a statistically significant difference between public and private schools for costs of tuition (F (1,1360) =80142.57 (p =.000), feeding (F (1,1360) = 8.657 (p =.003)), health care (F (1,1360) = 197.866 (p =.000)), textbooks (F (1,1360) = 56.647 (p =.000)), laundry (F (1,1360) = 217.269 (p =.000)) and accommodation (F (1,1384) =3889.049 (p =.000)) per session.

Conclusion: The study showed that the cost of undergraduate pharmacy education in private universities was about three times more than in public universities. Cost components of studying pharmacy include feeding, health, textbooks, handouts, transportation, internet data plans, laundry, accommodation, and tuition.