Schooling in Uncertainty: Navigating University Life in an Uneven System

At the University of Ibadan, student life has become a continuous act of balancing priorities. It is no longer just about passing exams or submitting assignments. It is about navigating a system that keeps shifting. From rising school fees to inconsistent teaching methods and changing administrative policies, students are learning to adapt to circumstances that often feel beyond their control.

For many, the most immediate and pressing change has been financial. Tuition fees have increased significantly. Hall and faculty dues have followed the same trajectory. The cost of transportation on campus has also risen sharply. Students now spend considerable time calculating how to make ends meet. Some skip meals. Some go without course materials. Chidi, a final-year Psychology student, described the situation plainly. “Every semester, something else costs more. My parents are tired. I am tired. I am tutoring after lectures just to survive.”

Beyond the challenge of day-to-day expenses, financial limitations are also shaping the academic futures of many. Courses like Medicine and Law, once pursued with passion, are becoming inaccessible to students from lower-income backgrounds due to their higher fees. As a result, some are forced to choose alternative courses, not based on interest or ability, but affordability. It is a quiet and painful compromise that often goes unnoticed.

While students are expected to pay more, they are also being asked to do more independently. The teaching structure has become inconsistent. Some lectures are physical, others are virtual, and many are a confusing mix of both. If a student misses one component, there is rarely any form of catch-up support. Aisha, a 200-level student of Mechanical Engineering, explained her experience. “You blink and realise a class happened on Google Meet, but no one told you. Then they send materials afterwards, and you are left trying to catch up without really understanding.”

Learning, once centralised in classrooms, now happens across a variety of platforms—Telegram, WhatsApp, Google Drive, Moodle—and students are left to manage it all. They exchange notes, rely on study groups, and search for additional explanations online.  At the administrative level, digitalisation has introduced a new layer of complexity. Processes such as registration, clearance, and result checking now take place online. These platforms often fail, and support is minimal. Bola, a final-year student of Botany, described her frustration. “We kept refreshing the page, just trying to get cleared. There was no one to guide us. We had to figure everything out ourselves.”

Infrastructure challenges continue to affect academic life. Power supply is unreliable in many hostels and the school areas. Internet connectivity is inconsistent. Library resources are often outdated or unavailable. Students now know which corners of campus offer the best chance of finding working sockets or stable Wi-Fi.

These difficulties carry a psychological toll. The weight of constant adaptation can be exhausting. Students are under pressure not just to excel academically, but to survive a system that often seems indifferent to their struggles. Yet in the midst of these challenges, a new kind of strength is being forged. Students are becoming problem-solvers. They are learning to think on their feet and to support one another.

Despite all these discomforts, students will graduate with more experience than degrees. They will carry with them the skills of survival, adaptability, and self-reliance. They are not just scholars. They are planners, organisers, troubleshooters, and quiet builders of community. These are lessons they were never formally taught, but which may prove the most valuable in the long run.

University life in Ibadan is no longer stable or predictable. Yet, even in this uncertainty, students continue to move forward. They are not merely coping—they are adapting, learning, and redefining what it means to succeed in the face of constant change.