ANALYSIS OF PRIVATE UNIT COST OF TEACHER EDUCATION IN PUBLIC TERTIARY EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN SOUTH-SOUTH NIGERIA.
ABSTRACT
The study analyzed the private unit cost of teacher education in public tertiary institutions in South-South Nigeria. It was aimed at finding out the actual private unit cost and also examined the various components of the private unit cost of teacher education in public tertiary institution in South-South Nigeria. The variations if any in the private unit cost of tertiary education along the variables of type of institution, programme of study, gender of students, year of study, place of residence and ownership of institution were also studied. Eight research questions were raised and answered while three hypotheses were formulated and tested.
A descriptive survey, employing the ex-post facto research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study consisted of full-time teacher education students in the twenty public tertiary institutions in the South-South Nigeria. A sample of 2,030 respondents was selected from twelve public colleges of education and universities, through a purposive, stratified random sampling techniques. A teacher education private unit cost checklist was constructed, validated and administered to the sample. Data collected were analyzed with the use of frequency counts, pie chart, bar graphs, percentages, z-test for independent samples and multiple regression statistics.
The findings revealed that the total private cost was N427,514,175.00, while the private unit cost  was N210,598.12. The private unit academic cost was N75,332.00 (35.77%), while the private non-academic unit cost was N135,266 (64.23%). Vocational and Technical Education had the highest private unit cost of N215,234.32 (31.30%), followed by sciences N211,147.66 (23.37%), Arts and Social Sciences N210,721.49 (23.21%) and Languages N206,593.12 (23.11%). Female students had a higher private unit cost of N227, 983.79 (51.50%) while that of their male counterpart was N194, 844.90 (48.50%). The private unit cost of students in rented apartments was the highest with N299, 896, followed by those in school hostels with N206, 650.64 and family apartments, N164, 289.74. Year one students had a private unit cost of N233, 074.50, year two, N195, 483.15, year three, N205, 460.65, while year four was N204, 074.82. State owned tertiary institutions’ students had a higher private unit cost of N239, 228.09 than Federal institutions students with N179, 014.60. The study also revealed that significant differences exist in the private unit cost of teacher education students based on the type and status of ownership of institutions. It was concluded that the private unit cost of teacher education in public tertiary institutions is high in favour of female students, university students, vocational and technical education students, year one students, state owned institutions and students in rented apartments. It was recommended among others that multinational companies and agencies such as Chevron, Mobil and Shell should offer education students scholarship as they do for other tertiary education programmes such as law, engineering, and accounting.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION                                                                                 
Background to the Study                                                      
Statement of the Problem                                                      
Research Questions                                                                
Hypotheses                                                                                        
Purpose of the Study                                                             
Significance of the Study                                                                  
Scope and Delimitation of the Study                                                            
Definition of Terms                                                                           
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE                     
Theoretical Framework                                                          
Conceptual Framework                                                                      
Overview of Teacher Education in Nigeria                                                   
Development of Higher Education in Nigeria                                   
Concept of Cost in Education                                                           
Types of Cost in Education                                                               
Concept of Unit Cost                                                                                    
Determinants of Cost in Education                                       
Components of Private Cost in Teacher Education               
Cost of Tertiary Education in some Countries                      
Relevance of Cost Analysis in Education                             
Summary of Literature                                                                       
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY                                                     
Research Design                                                                    
Population of the Study                                                         
Sample and Sampling Techniques                                                     
Research Instrument                                                              
Validity of the Instrument                                                                 
Method of Data Collection                                                    
Method of Data Analysis                                                      
 CHAPTER FOUR: PRESENTATION OF RESULTS,                               
INTERPRETATION AND
DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
 Research Question 1                                                              
Research Question 2                                                                          
Research Question 3                                                              
Research Question 4                                                              
Research Question 5                                                              
Research Question 6                                                                          
Research Question 7                                                              
Research Question 8                                                                          
Hypothesis 1                                                                          
Hypothesis 2                                                                          
Hypothesis 3                                                                          
Discussion of Findings                                                          
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND                 
RECOMMENDATIONS
 Summary                                                                                            
Conclusion                                                                                         
Implications for Educational Planning                                              
Recommendations                                                                 
Suggestions for Further Research                                          
Contribution to Knowledge                                                                           
REFERENCES                                                                                 
APPENDICES                                                                                              
Letter of Introduction to Institutions
Checklist on Private Unit Cost of Teacher Education
List of sampled public tertiary institutions
 LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Federal allocation to all levels of Education in                                
Nigeria between 2000 and 2012
Table 2: Distribution of selected tertiary institutions                                    
Table 3      Distribution of respondents by type of institution                      
Table 4: Distribution of respondents by programme of study                       
Table 5: Distribution of respondents by gender                                            
Table 6: Distribution of respondents by level study                                      
Table 7: Distribution of respondents by type of residence                            
Table 8: Distribution of respondents by ownership of institution       
Table 9 Private unit cost of teacher education                                   
Table 10: Unit cost of teacher education                                                       
Table 11: Private unit academic cost of tertiary institution               
Table 12: Unit non-academic cost of teacher education                    
Table 13: Private Unit cost of teacher education                                           
by type of institution                                                       
Table 14: Private unit cost by programme of study                           
Table 15: Private unit cost by gender of students                                         
Table 16: Private unit cost by year of study                                      
Table 17: Private unit cost by type of residence                                
Table 18:  Private unit cost by ownership of institution                                
Table 19: z-test of independent sample of private unit                                 
cost in tertiary institutions
Table 20: z-test of independent sample of ownership of
                        Institution                                                                             
Table 21: Private unit cost of the variables of study                         
Table 22: Regression analysis of variables                             
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Typology of cost in education                                            
Figure 2: Private cost of education                                                    
Figure 3: Private unit cost of teacher education in tertiary                            
institutions in South-South Nigeria
Figure 4: Academic cost component of teacher education                            
Figure 5: Non-academic cost of teacher education                                       
Figure 6:  Private unit cost in naira by type of institution                             
Figure 7: Private unit cost in naira by programme of study                           
Figure 8:  Private unit cost by gender of students                                                     
Figure 9: Private unit cost based on year of study                                        
Figure 10: Private unit cost based on place of residence                               
Figure 11: Private unit cost based on ownership of institution                     
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study  
The rejection of the natural resources-national wealth nexus by human capital exponents such as Schultz (1961), Harbison and Meyer (1964), among others led to the popularization of education and training of human resources as veritable means for achieving sustainable national development. This development brings to the fore the need for teacher education institutions that would produce teachers necessary for fast tracking the education process.
In the teacher production process a lot of resources are needed. These include fiscal, materials and personnel resources. Fiscal resources which address the cost of production is perhaps one of the most important factors in the provision and procurement of the education in any nation or state. When the cost of the education enterprise is undermined the system as well as the stakeholders could face grave consequences. This opinion therefore emphasizes the need for stakeholders to  recognize the need to have a reasonable idea of the social and private cost burden of education in general  and teacher education in particular to facilitate the attainment of national educational goals.
Knowledge acquired through formal education is known to be a determining factor in the process of economic growth and development of nations. In the same manner teacher education is regarded as a major source of producing the required teachers needed for generating and disseminating the knowledge for national development. The cost of producing qualified teachers needed for national progress is worthy of immense considerations by stakeholders.
Nwadiani, (2005), opined that teacher education is of pivotal importance in the educational enterprise when considered against the background of the invaluable roles teachers play in the transmission of knowledge, value and building of a complete man. In recognition of the role of teacher education in nation building, the Federal Republic of Nigeria (2004:39) identified the objectives of teacher education as follows:
 To produce highly motivated, conscientious and efficient classroom teachers for all levels of our educational system.
To encourage and further the spirit of enquiring and creativity in teacher.
To help teachers to fit into the social life of the community and society at large and to enhance their commitment to national objective (goals).
To provide teachers with the maintenance and professional background adequate for their assignment and make them adaptable for any changing situation.
To enhance teacher commitment to the teaching profession.
 The realization of these objectives is not without any reasonable cost implication on the part of all stakeholders. Education generally is an expensive enterprise when considered against the backdrop of high capital and recurrent cost it demands; hence the need for all stakeholders to share in the cost. For instance, according to the Nigerian Commission for Colleges of Education NCCE (2000) the total recurrent and capital allocation for Federal Colleges of Education between 1993 and 1998 were N5,789,240,000 and N2,687,326,185, respectively, while the federal allocations to federal universities in Nigeria between 1998 and 2009 were N577,723,105,913:00 and N74,0540,74,425:10 respectively (NUC, 2012). Thus, adequate financing is a necessary determinant for a successful implementation of teacher education as part of general education.
        Presently, according to the Federal Ministry of Education (2013) there are 129 Universities, 57 Polytechnics and 65 Colleges of education providing teacher education programme. All these institutions require infrastructure, equipment, and personnel in the right proportion. The provision of these resources require a lot of funds. It must be noted that No state can effectively run teacher education programmes that compromise cost on the altar of charity. If relevance and competitiveness are considered in line with global trend, the cost implications of providing teacher education is imperative.  
According to Harbison (1973), Akangbou (1987), and Nwadiani (2002), and the realization that educated human resources are the active factors of production rather than natural resources that are passive has influenced nations to increase their investment interest in education in their national budgets. These renewed investment interests tend to affect the social cost of providing education to citizens.  
Without adequate funds, manpower resource which is vital for development cannot be harnessed in the right quantity or quality.
        In Nigeria for instance, inspite of the other competing sectors of the economy fiscal allocations to education (teacher education), which by implication is the social cost of providing education at all levels of the educational system tends to be relatively high.
The data in table I showed the level of fiscal allocation to education in Nigeria for some years.
Table 1: Federal Allocation to all levels of education in Nigeria between 2000 and 2012
Year    Total Budget Trillion (N)    Education Allocation Billion (N)    Budget (%)    UNESCO Standard (%)
2000    0.702    44.225    8.30    26
2001    0.894    39.885    2.00    26
2002    1.064    10.2    5.09    26
2003    1.446    64.76    11.83    26
2004    1.189    72.22    7.80    26
2005    1.8    92.59    8.30    26
2006    1.9    166.7    8.70    26
2007    2.3    137.48    6.06    26
2008    2.45    210.5    10.00    26
2009    2.9    168.44    13.00    26
2010    4.6    3.49    6.40    26
2011    4.972    356.4    7.94    26
2012    4.750    426.53    7.90    26
Source: Education Sector Report (2009) and Federal Ministry of Education, Department of Planning and Statistics (2012).  
 Data in Table 1 shows the annual allocation to education in Nigeria and the corresponding percentages from 2000 to 2013 respectively. Despite the increasing volume of allocations over the years, they are grossly inadequate when compared to the United Nations recommendation of 26% for developing countries like Nigeria. This inadequacy could be traceable to the unstable national economic status of the country.  It further showed that the highest Federal Fiscal allocation to education in Nigeria was 13% in 2008, while 2001 recorded the lowest allocation of 2.0%. These low figures have grave implications on teacher education. This is so because whatever is available will be thinly shared among the subsectors of the education industry. They include pre-primary, primary, secondary, tertiary including teacher education and the parastatals in education.    
        Adebayo (2012), observed that the percentage allocation for teacher education in Nigeria for the past five years has been between 8% to 10% of the total education budget. This implies that more funds are needed for teacher education.
        For example Edo State allocation to College of Education,  Ekiadolor between 2008 to 2014 shows a meager sum when compared to the annual budget of the state within the same period. This is presented in table 2.
Table 2: Edo State allocation to College of Education, Ekiadolor between 2008 to 2014.  
Year    Edo State Budget                  (N Billion)    Allocation to College of Education (N Million)    Percentage
2008    60.70    240m    0.04
2009    80.60    288m    0.36
2010    101.96    300m    0.29
2011    112.73    336m    0.30
2012    159.47    420m    0.26
2013    145.44    480m    0.32
2014    160.06    540m    0.34
Source: Edo State Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning. Annual Budget estimates Reports 2008-2014 and College of Education, Ekiadolor Account Department.
 Sequel to the dwindling world and national economies, especially in developing countries, including Nigeria, governments are increasingly incapable in providing cost effective education to students at all levels of the educational system. This unabated problem of financing education by the government agencies obviously creates the necessity for the cooperative efforts of other bodies, such as the non-governmental organizations and the parents, household or individuals. This perceived arrangement is in consonance with the philosophy which recognizes the need for a cooperative burden bearing or sharing in project or programme implementation.
It should be stressed that the attainment of the provisions of the national policy with respect to tertiary education suggests high cost implications of which teacher’s education is an integral part. In Nigeria the major institutions involved in the provision of teacher education are the universities, colleges of education and polytechnics education departments, National Teachers Institute and National Open University of Nigeria. The Federal Government funds the federal institutions while the State Governments run the state owned institutions. Private tertiary institutions have private funding.
For instance during the oil boom era in Nigeria between the 1970’s and early 1980’s students received bursary awards from various state governments. In addition tuition fees were free and feeding and accommodations were highly subsidized. During the second republic especially in the states controlled by the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) mainly in the Western and Midwestern States of Nigeria, students were sent on in-service training with their salaries paid. But today the story is quite different because most states in the country hardly offer such facilities. The reasons for this inability range from increased social demand for education, dwindling national and states economy, corruption by government officials to increased competition for scarce fiscal resources among other factors.   
Parents are expected to contribute to the education of their children as investment for the future. It is on this note that parents are required to bear some costs towards their children’s acquisition of teacher education. These private costs are reflected in the payment of academic and non-academic items. Some of the academic cost includes cost of admission forms, tuition fees, books, stationary, term papers etc. While non-academic cost include cost of clearance fee, registration fee, excursion, contributions towards group work, subscription to unions, transportation, accommodation, clothing, food and telephone calls among others.
Efficient management of higher institution programme especially teacher education programmes hinges on available financial standing of institutions and students. Consequently many important questions about higher education are related to its cost. In an era where cost of teacher education seems to be on the increase and considering the fact that government and individual must still fund education the cost of teacher education needed for national development needs some consideration.
Statement of the Problem
The process of providing and obtaining teacher education in tertiary institutions is usually an expensive venture which affects Governments and households because of the cost implications. While Governments (State and Federal) and other relevant agencies spend large resources in the provision of teacher education in tertiary institutions, parents also spend money. Governments seem to be finding it increasingly difficult to adequately bear the financial cost burden for quantitative and qualitative teacher education in most states of Nigeria. The reasons for this difficulty are due to the intensive and expensive labour and capital demand of the education industry, the competition of other sectors of the economy for the scarce fiscal resources, the dwindling national and state economies, increasing social demand for teacher education, inflation and a host of other socio-economic and political considerations. It is believed in some quarters that the cost of teacher education in Nigeria is rather high. While the contribution of government to teacher education may be easily determined because they are documented, that of students (indeed household) may not be so easily determined. This is so because the expenditure is in piece-meal. These include direct academic and non-academic costs as well as indirect (opportunity) cost. Therefore, the claim of increasing financial demands in providing tertiary teacher education for students and the pressure government, parents, guardians and students experience in financing teacher education is not yet empirically evident. However, the seeming high cost of education in general and teacher education in particular is misleading because inadequate cognizance is taken of the actual number of enrollment in most of the cases. Consequently, most stakeholders have vague estimation of the actual cost of education. This scenario highlights the importance of  unit cost of education as a major determinant of the cost of education. Sometimes governments propaganda of free education policy, usually as a vote-catching strategy tends to downplay the financial contributions of parents or households to the education process, whereas this aspect of private cost seems on the increase because of rising cost of living in the country.
Furthermore, it is asserted that the private cost of teacher education is influenced by varieties in the type of institutions, programme of study, gender of students, levels of study, ownership of institution and the type of students residence.  If these claims or observations are anything worthy of consideration, the problem of the study is therefore is how much cost do students and their family actually incure for undertaking teacher education programme and what factors influence private unit cost in public tertiary institutions in South-South Nigeria?  
Research Questions
The following research questions were raised to guide the study.
What is the private unit cost of teacher education in public tertiary institutions in South-South Nigeria?
What is the unit cost of components of the private cost of teacher education in public tertiary institutions in South-South Nigeria?
Do students’ private unit cost of teacher education in public tertiary institutions in South-South Nigeria vary according to type of institution?
Do the private unit cost of teacher education in public tertiary institutions vary according to the programme of study?
Do students’ private unit cost of teacher education in public tertiary institutions in the South-South Nigeria vary according to the gender of students?    
Do students’ private unit cost of teacher education in public tertiary institution vary according to their level of study?
Do students’ private unit cost of teacher education vary according to their type of residence?
Do students’ private unit cost of teacher education vary according to the status of ownership of institution?  
Hypotheses
          To guide this study the following hypotheses were formulated:
Ho1:  There is no significant difference in the private unit cost of students in colleges of education and universities.
Ho2: There is no significant difference in the private unit cost of teacher education of students from Federal and State Universities.
Ho3: There is no significant difference in the contribution of type of institutions, programme of study, sex of students, level of study, residence of students and ownership of institutions to the private unit cost of teacher education.   
Purpose of Study
The purpose of this study was to analyze the private unit cost of teacher education in public tertiary institution in South-South Nigeria. Specifically, the objectives f the study are to:
ascertain the unit cost of teacher education in public tertiary institutions in South-South Nigeria;
find out the unit cost of the various components of the private unit cost of teacher education in public tertiary institution in South-South Nigeria;   
ascertain if there is variation in the private unit cost of teacher education along the variables of type of institution programme of study, gender of students, year of study, place of residence and ownership of institution;
determine if there is any difference in the private unit cost of students in colleges of education and universities and  
ascertain if there is any difference in the contribution of type of institutions programme of study, sex of students, level of study, residence of students and ownership of institutions to the private unit cost of teacher education.     
Significance of the Study
The teacher is the most crucial single element in the education  process. His or her education and training contributes to a more purposeful and better-planned education. A competent teacher directly or indirectly, is bound to influence the quality and quantity of service provided by all other jobs and professions. To achieve this, fund is required. Thus, a study on the private unit cost of teacher education programme in South-South States institutions would be a source of information for donor agencies, Federal, State and Local Government.
The significance of the study on the private unit cost of teacher education would provide the needed data that could benefit households and individuals. When they are aware of the present private unit cost on the part of household they could be more precise in appropriating an amount to education while drawing up a family budget.
Moreover, there seems to be a paucity of literature in the area of private unit cost of teacher education in public tertiary institutions in South-South Nigeria, even though previous work on the cost of education abound. This study would fill this gap.
The work has the potential of determining the level of household initiatives in fostering the educational pursuit of students, as well as motivating the government in developing strategies aimed at alleviating the cost burden of the public and parents. The position is fortunately the present stand of the federal government because no parent or government can single handedly finance education. This brings to bear the concept of cost sharing or cooperative burden bearing in financing education.
The result of this study could be used by policy makers and managers in reviewing the ways of raising additional funds, which could be used to ameliorate the burden of household cost through scholarships and provision of special grants. Furthermore, the study could serve as a guide to the managers of the tertiary institutions in identifying possible factors affecting private unit cost with the aim of making useful decisions to addressing them. The result of this study will also form the bases for scholarship, students loan and bursary award to students in tertiary institutions. Hitherto bursary and scholarship awards were arbitrarily awarded.    
The findings of the study could be my humble contribution to the existing body of knowledge in the field of cost of education, particularly teacher education in Nigerian higher institutions.
Definitions of Terms
          The following terms were operationally defined as follows;
Private Cost: totality of academic and non-academic cost burden borne by both the students and their household for the up keep of the students while they pursue an educational program such as transport, tuition fee, books including money spent on religious activities.    
Unit Cost: it is the calculated cost incurred by both individual (consumer) and the providing agency in the course of providing educational service per educational unit such as cost per student, cost per school, cost per teacher, cost by level of education etc.
Private Unit Cost: the average cost of or the result of the sum total of private cost when divided by the number of participants in the programme.
Academic Costs: these refer to expenditures on tuition and non tuition items that are directly required for instructional and learning process such as pre-admission cost, examination charges, fees, cost of books and stationary, project cost, study tour, teaching practice, SIWES, departmental and faculty dues, practical materials etc.   
Non-Academic Costs: these refer to expenditure on items that are not required for instructional and teaching purposes but are necessary to facilitate teaching and learning purposes such as feeding, clothes/wears, snack, union dues, clubs and societies, medicals, laundry accommodation, transportation etc.
Academic Discipline: course undertaken by students to prepare them for the teaching job e.g. Business Education, Home Economics Education, Education/Mathematics, Education/Biology, Education/Chemistry, Education/Physics, among others.
Current Cost; also referred to as concurrent or operational cost: they are costs used for the daily running of an organization. They are subject to renewal or easy replacement. They include; salaries, allowances, transportation cost, cost of stationeries, etc.
Capital Cost: cost of items with long life span, usually more than one budget year e.g. cost of land, furniture, equipment, building etc.  
 Teacher Education: course of academic instruction aimed at producing trained teachers.
Vocational Education: covers Agricultural Education, Home Economics, business and technical Education.
Science: these are mathematics, physics, biology, chemistry, computer science.
Languages: NCE/B.A.Ed in English and Literature, French, Edo, Efik and other indigenous languages.
Rented Apartment: rented accommodation outside the campus.   
Family Apartment: private accommodation with parents, guardian, friends etc.
SIWES: this means students industrial work experience scheme. This is industrial attachment for students in the school of vocational and technical education.