Cheapest Private Universities in Nigeria and Their School Fees (2026 Update)

Private university fees in Nigeria have moved a lot in the last two sessions. Some schools that blogs still describe as “cheap” now charge well over a million naira a year, while a few genuinely affordable options remain — if you read the fee schedule properly.

For this update, we went to the official websites of the private universities usually named on “cheapest” lists and read their published fee schedules directly. Every figure below comes from an official university page or PDF, checked in October 2026. Where a school does not publish a readable fee schedule online, we say so plainly instead of repeating numbers copied from other blogs.

One warning before the figures: private university fees change almost every session, and what you actually pay depends on your course, your level, and whether accommodation is included. Use this guide to build a shortlist, then confirm the current session’s schedule with the university before you pay anything.

The verified fees at a glance

University	What you pay per session	Session
Paul University, Awka	₦382,000 total, including accommodation and levies	Current published schedule
Atiba University, Oyo	From ₦645,000 total (₦545,000 on scholarship) for Education and Agriculture	2026/2027
Wellspring University, Benin City	Tuition from ₦574,000, depending on course	2026/2027
Trinity University, Lagos	From ₦746,000 total for a day student	Current published schedule
Renaissance University, Enugu	₦1,500,000–₦1,800,000, including accommodation and feeding	2026/2027
Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo	Computer Science tuition alone is ₦1,275,000 for fresh students	2025/2026

Paul University, Awka — the clearest low-cost option

Paul University’s official undergraduate fee schedule is the most transparent low-cost schedule we found. The school fees line itself is ₦190,000 per session. Accommodation is ₦50,000, the acceptance fee for new students is ₦20,000, and the remaining charges — development levy, accreditation, faculty and departmental dues, medical, examination, library, sports and portal fees — bring the published grand total to ₦382,000 for the session.

That total is the number that matters. When you compare schools, always compare the full schedule, not the tuition line alone, because a low tuition figure can hide heavy levies. Even judged on its all-in total, though, Paul University is the most affordable verified option on this list by a wide margin.

Atiba University, Oyo — scholarship rates pull the cost down

Atiba University publishes its full 2026/2027 fee schedule as a PDF on its website, and it is one of the few schools that shows a lower scholarship rate beside the standard rate. The grand total — which already includes ₦180,000 for accommodation and the other charges — is ₦645,000 for the Faculties of Education and Agricultural Science, or ₦545,000 if you qualify for the scholarship rate. Arts, Social and Management Sciences cost ₦745,000 (₦625,000 on scholarship), Natural and Applied Sciences ₦945,000 (₦745,000), while health programmes are higher, with Nursing Science reaching ₦1,695,000 at 200 level.

If your course falls under Education or Agriculture and you can secure the scholarship rate, Atiba is one of the cheapest verified options in the South-West. Atiba also runs a JUPEB programme, which is one of the routes into 200 level without UTME — our guide to universities selling JUPEB forms explains how that pathway works.

Wellspring University, Benin City — affordable for some courses, not for Nursing

Wellspring’s official 2026/2027 tuition page shows how sharply fees now vary by course within the same university. Microbiology and Biochemistry tuition is ₦574,000 at 100 level, Public Health is ₦661,000, Computer Science is ₦703,080, and Medical Laboratory Science is ₦1,030,500. Nursing Science is the expensive outlier at ₦1,506,600 for 100 level.

Tuition is not the whole bill. Fresh students also pay sundry charges of roughly ₦273,000–₦373,000 depending on faculty, hostel accommodation is ₦250,000 for fresh students, and the acceptance fee is ₦50,000 — ₦100,000 for Nursing. So a Microbiology fresher should budget around ₦1.1 million all-in, while a Nursing fresher should budget above ₦2 million. If you are set on a health course, weigh these figures alongside our breakdown of the best medical courses to study in Nigeria before deciding where your money goes furthest.

Trinity University, Lagos — day students pay much less

Trinity University in Yaba, Lagos publishes a fresh-student fee structure that separates tuition from the total. Tuition is ₦400,000 for Arts, Management and Social Sciences, ₦450,000 for Applied Sciences, ₦700,000 for Medical Laboratory Science and ₦800,000 for Nursing Science. After the ₦50,000 acceptance fee and other charges, the total for a day student is ₦746,000 in the Arts group and ₦816,000 in Applied Sciences. Residential students pay ₦290,000 more for accommodation and feeding, which takes Nursing to ₦1,506,000.

If you live in Lagos and can attend as a day student, that is the single biggest saving available at Trinity. If you will be residential, budget honestly for hostel life — our university hostel packing guide covers what you will actually need to bring and buy.

Renaissance University, Enugu — no longer cheap, but all-inclusive

Renaissance University is the clearest example of why old “cheapest” lists mislead. Its official FAQ page now puts school fees at ₦1,500,000 to ₦1,800,000 per session depending on the programme — a figure that covers tuition, accommodation and feeding together. The acceptance fee is ₦50,000 for most programmes and ₦100,000 for Law and Nursing, and the university says instalment payment plans are available.

That is no longer a budget fee by any measure. But because it bundles housing and feeding, compare it against other schools’ tuition plus hostel plus feeding costs before writing it off completely.

Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo — a warning about old figures

Ajayi Crowther University shows the same pattern. Its Faculty of Computing page publishes 2025/2026 tuition — tuition only, before other charges — of ₦1,275,000 for 100-level Computer Science, then ₦900,000 at 200 and 300 level and ₦950,000 at 400 level, payable in 50%, 25% and 25% instalments. Older articles quoting around ₦667,000 for ACU are describing a different era.

We could verify this one faculty’s schedule on the official site; other faculties charge differently, some lower, some higher. Ask the university for the full approved schedule for your exact course before relying on any figure — including ours.

Schools we could not verify

Several familiar names appear on almost every “cheapest private universities” list: Oduduwa University, Caritas University, Tansian University, Claretian University, Rhema University, Novena University, Adeleke University, Joseph Ayo Babalola University and Obong University. We checked each school’s official website for a current fee schedule and could not find one we could read and cite. Some of these universities publish fees only inside their student portals, some sites were under maintenance or blocked by bot checks, and Obong University’s listed web domain currently displays unrelated content that is not the university at all — so treat any “official” Obong link with real caution.

Rather than copy figures from third-party blogs, which disagree wildly with one another about these same schools, we have left them without numbers. If any of them is on your shortlist, contact the admissions office directly and ask for the current session’s approved fee schedule in writing before you plan around a figure you saw online.

How to confirm any private university’s real fees

• Ask for the approved fee schedule for your course and level, as a PDF or on the university’s official website — not a screenshot circulating on WhatsApp.
• Check whether the figure includes accommodation and feeding. A “cheap” total that excludes both can double once you add them.
• Separate tuition from the grand total, and ask which charges are one-off (like the acceptance fee) and which repeat every session.
• Confirm the academic session the schedule belongs to. A 2023/2024 schedule tells you little about 2026/2027.
• Ask about scholarships and instalment plans. As Atiba and Ajayi Crowther show, the published payment structure can change what you actually pay and when.
• Pay only through the channels the university itself publishes, and keep every receipt.

Frequently asked questions

Which private university is the cheapest in Nigeria right now?

Of the schools whose fees we could verify on their official websites, Paul University in Awka is the cheapest, with a published all-in total of ₦382,000 per session. Atiba University follows for Education and Agriculture courses, especially at its scholarship rate.

Do these fees include accommodation?

It depends on the school. Paul, Atiba and Renaissance totals include accommodation; Wellspring’s tuition figures do not, and Trinity charges residential students ₦290,000 more than day students. Always check what a quoted figure covers.

Can I pay my fees in instalments?

Some universities publish instalment plans — Ajayi Crowther, for example, splits tuition into 50%, 25% and 25% payments, and Renaissance says instalment plans are available. Ask your school’s bursary before the session starts, not after fees fall due.

I have been offered admission. What should I do next?

Confirm the offer is genuine by checking your status on JAMB CAPS — our step-by-step guide on how to check your JAMB admission status walks you through it. Then pay the acceptance fee only through the university’s official channels.

What if I cannot afford any private university?

Federal and state universities remain far cheaper, and many private universities offer scholarships or discounts that are not obvious from the headline fee. Ask each school directly what support exists before ruling it out.

Final word

The honest picture in 2026 is that truly cheap private universities are now rare, and several famous names on older lists no longer belong there. Paul University and Atiba University stand out on verified figures; everywhere else, the course you choose matters as much as the school. Wherever you end up, the degree is what you make of it — our guide on how to graduate with first class in a Nigerian university is a good place to start planning.