Impact of Students’ Financial Strength on their Academic Performance: Kaduna Polytechnic Experience

Abstract

The Nigerian educational system has suffered disrepute in recent times. Schools outside Nigeria assess the certificates earned from Nigerian universities as being low. In this research, we used carefully designed questionnaires distributed by stratified random sampling with proportional allocation scheme, to find out the impact of finance on students‟ academic performance with reference to Kaduna Polytechnic. The statistical tests we applied are Chi-square, Phi coefficient and Bi-serial correlation. It was found that financial status depends on the source of finance. The self-sponsored students are more satisfied than those that get their money either from their parents or from a scholarship fund. It was also discovered that the adequacy /inadequacy of a student‟s finance does not depend on gender. Bi-serial correlation analysis reveals that adequacy of the money affects student‟s academic performance. The conclusion that satisfaction cum improved academic performance depends on source of finance (and in particular, those that sponsor themselves feel more satisfied) explains why graduates from the countries where job opportunities are provided for students perform well in both external/professional examination and in the industry. Since jobs are rarely available for students in Nigeria, a student-loan-scheme is needed to ensure satisfaction, which leads to improved performance.

Key words: adequacy, correlation, examination, school