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Claim: An ex-government official, Isaac Doe, stated that before the free tuition policy at the University of Liberia, “student enrollment was way below 10,000.”
Verdict: Misleading. An analysis from the UL’s Office of Enrollment Services shows that about 14,000 to 17,000 students enrolled every semester before the free policy.
Full Text
In October 2018, former President George Weah initiated the tuition-free policy for all undergraduate students at the University of Liberia (UL) and all other public universities.
According to the then-president, the policy was necessary due to the increasing cost of education in Liberia, which led to non-enrollment, non-attendance, and frequent dropouts.
Several years later, the policy was reignited in a much-publicized live debate, with former Deputy Minister Isaac Doe stating that the free tuition policy has been beneficial to students at the University of Liberia.
Doe argued that “before the free tuition policy was announced, the enrollment at UL was way below 10,000.”
He can be heard from 2:14:52 to 2:15:59 of the debate. As of this report, the debate had generated 27.6k comments, 4.8k reactions, and 597 shares.
DUBAWA found it necessary to verify the claim as part of its mandate to promote truth in public discourse.
Verification
DUBAWA contacted the Office of Enrollment Services at the University of Liberia to determine the number of students who enrolled at the state-run university before the announcement of the free tuition policy.
The office handed DUBAWA copies of the university’s enrollment analysis, which shows the number of students who enrolled as far back as 2014.
Due to the voluminous nature of the documents shared, a few copies are highlighted.
According to the analysis, 17,039 students enrolled in the first academic semester of 2014, and 16,287 students enrolled in the second semester.
Screenshot of the 2014 first semester enrollment analysis
In the first semester of 2016, 15,564 students enrolled. In the second semester of the same year, 15,102 students enrolled.
In 2017, the year former President Weah was elected president, 16,016 students enrolled in the first semester and by the second semester, 15,659 enrolled.
Screenshot of the 2017 second-semester enrollment analysis.
By 2018, the year he took office, the numbers surged by 18,476 in the first semester and to 20,136 in the second semester.
Conclusion
Isaac Doe’s claim that enrollment at UL was below 10,000 before the free tuition policy was announced is misleading.
