By 
Shumirai Nyamadzawo
Chaos has rocked the Great Zimbabwe University auto-billing system which is reportedly charging students living off the campus accommodation fees.
Parents and students are up in arms with the university following this development.
According to one student, the university auto-billing system has been synchronized in such a way that it charges all registered students fees for using the university accommodation facilities including those who live off the campus.
The student added that the university coined a way to try and reap students their hard-earned cash.
“The university is trying to steal from us or rather trying to force us to pay accommodation fees for the facilities that we are not using. The university is forcing all students to stay at campus residences. It has been a month since the second semester began and we were shocked to see from our learning portals that we have to pay for the services which we are not using,” said one student from the university.
Students from the Mashava campus described the charges as illegal and have since notified the university that they will definitely take legal action.
GZU fees for the second semester are $480 depending on the program while accommodation for students staying in the Mashava campus costs $190 for sharing students and $240 for single.
Another student says, “The institution has no right to impose this on all of us. I would like to think that we are adults and we come from different backgrounds. Some of us, cannot afford to stay on campus that’s why we choose to stay off campus,” said the student.
A parent also said the matter was poorly handled by the university administration. She said, “I would like the university to know that students and parents are stakeholders of the university. Their actions, however, show that they don’t see us as such. The matter was poorly handled we should have been consulted first,” said the parent.
The university spokesperson Anderson Chipatiso said the university policy was that every student should use campus residence.
“Everyone using the Mashava campus is expected to stay in campus residence and it is a requirement to pay the fees because we encourage them to use campus residence for their own safety,” said Chipatiso.
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