Perceived Influence of the Growing Inflation on Undergraduate Students’ Learning Processes in Universities in Kwara State, Nigeria

Abstract

Inflation is an inevitable property of any nation that affects all sectors of the economy across board such as the rise in prices of valuable items for human survival, many affected undergraduates dropping out from the university system, mass failure, and death as a result of anger and starvation. This study adopted a descriptive survey research design. This study specifically explores undergraduates’ opinions on the perceived influence of the growing inflation on their learning process in universities, identify the causes of inflation as perceived by undergraduates in universities, identify possible solutions to ameliorate the impact of inflation on undergraduates’ learning processes in universities and determine the perceived influence of inflation on learning resources that enhance their learning processes based on school type in Kwara state. Three research questions were formulated and one hypothesis was postulated respectively. The population for this study comprised all undergraduates in universities in Kwara State, the target population were undergraduates of one private university, one state-owned university and one federal university that were purposively selected, all located in Kwara State. A simple random sampling technique was used to sample undergraduates (respondents) for this study. The results showed that students strongly agreed that inflation has an adverse influence on learning processes and that they need to enhance their learning activities in universities at Kwara State. Undergraduates also considered the increase in the cost of transportation, and persistent increase in the cost of food and wears as significant causes of inflation and providing alternative means of transportation, and investing in the production of competitive goods and services are the possible solutions of inflation identified by the students. The result also showed that F(2,197) = 1.009, p >.05. This study concluded that the undergraduates in public and private universities in Kwara State, Nigeria perceived inflation as having adverse effects on learning processes.