What began as a season of celebration for some families has quickly turned into anxiety.
After years of preparing for university, paying school fees, supporting JAMB examinations and encouraging their children to pursue their dreams with excellence, some parents of Lagos State University (LASU) students were looking forward to the next stage of their children’s lives.
Some had started looking for accommodation around the Ikeja axis and other parts of Lagos, making plans for where their children would stay as they continued their studies.
Their children had worked hard.
Some had recorded CGPAs above 4.5.
For families whose children had secured places in Nursing, there was an added sense of accomplishment. Nursing had been the course many of the students wanted, and for some, getting there had taken more than one attempt at JAMB.
Then came the course changes.
Since Friday, September 18, 2026, some students who had been studying Nursing at LASU say their courses have been changed to programmes including Radiology, Biochemistry and Physiology.
The changes have left parents who were preparing for the new academic phase of their children’s lives asking a different set of questions.
Why has the course been changed?
What criteria were used?
And why were students with strong academic records among those affected?
For Shina, the development has been particularly difficult.
He had wanted to become a nurse for years and sat for JAMB three times in pursuit of that ambition.
After finally gaining admission to study Nursing, he continued to work hard and achieved a CGPA of 4.8.
Now, his course has reportedly been changed to Radiology.
“I wrote JAMB three times because of my desire to be a nurse,” Shina told P.M.NEWS
For his parents, those three JAMB attempts are not just numbers.
They remember the years of preparation, the examination fees, the disappointment of having to try again and the relief when their son eventually secured admission.
They were preparing for his future.
Now, they are having to ask whether that future has been redirected.
Another affected student, Hannah, has a CGPA of 4.6 and is also among students whose Nursing course was reportedly changed.
Her case is one of several that has prompted parents to question how the university arrived at the new allocations.
The parents say they are not against Radiology, Biochemistry, Physiology or any other course their children may have been moved to.
Their concern is that the students had chosen Nursing.
They had built their academic plans around it.
Their families had made financial and personal commitments around those plans.
And now, they say, the changes have come without a clear explanation of the criteria used.
The uncertainty has come at a particularly difficult time for some families.
Parents who had been thinking about where their children would live, how they would get to school and how they would manage the demands of university are now spending time trying to understand the course changes.
Some have already begun searching for hostel accommodation around Ikeja and neighbouring areas for their children.
The irony has not been lost on them.
They had been making practical plans for children they believed were moving confidently into their chosen careers.
Now, instead of discussing accommodation, school supplies and the next academic stage, they are discussing course changes and the possibility that their children’s career plans may have been altered.
For many parents, the anxiety is not simply about where their children will live.
It is about what they will eventually become.
According to affected parents and students, there has been no clear explanation to them about why particular students were moved from Nursing to other programmes.
That absence of information has fuelled speculation.
Some parents allege that students with CGPAs below 3.5 have remained in Nursing while some students with CGPAs above 4.5 have been moved.
There are also allegations among some parents and students that Lagos indigene status or personal connections may have influenced some allocations.
These claims have not been independently verified by this newspaper.
The allegations nevertheless form part of the concerns being raised by affected families, who want LASU to explain the criteria used.
If the changes were caused by departmental capacity, accreditation requirements, admission quotas or another administrative consideration, parents say they want to know.
If CGPA was a factor, they want to know how it was applied.
And if other criteria were used, they want those criteria made clear.
For them, transparency matters because the decision concerns their children’s futures.
For Shina’s family, the issue has become deeply personal.
Three JAMB attempts were made because of one ambition.
When the admission finally came, it represented more than a university placement. It was the beginning of the career he had spent years trying to enter.
Then came the 4.8 CGPA.
To his family, it was evidence that he was not merely admitted into the programme; he was also working hard to succeed in it.
Now, his course has been changed.
The family is therefore left asking what happens next.
Would he have to start adjusting his career plans?
Would the new course lead him towards the profession he had always wanted?
Could he appeal?
And why was the change necessary in the first place?
These are questions that, according to the family, they should not have to answer themselves.
Hannah’s family faces a similar uncertainty.
With a 4.6 CGPA, the student is among those affected by the changes, raising further questions about how the allocation decisions were made.
For the parents, the concern is not that their children cannot succeed in other disciplines.
It is what basis was used by the institution to measure excellence before changing the courses.
Now, the bigger question.
Universities sometimes have to make difficult administrative decisions. Student numbers, departmental capacity, professional requirements and accreditation can affect how programmes are managed.
But for parents, such decisions should come with explanations.
They say students and families deserve to know when and why their academic programmes are being changed, particularly where the change could affect professional ambitions that have taken years to build.
For the affected families, this is therefore more than a disagreement over course names.
It is about trust.
Parents trusted that the academic path their children had worked towards would be handled transparently.
They celebrated their children’s achievements.
They started making plans for accommodation.
They prepared themselves for another stage of university life.
Now, they are asking whether those plans must change too.
For Shina, the question remains particularly painful.
After three JAMB attempts and a 4.8 CGPA, he had every reason to believe he was moving towards the career he wanted.
Now, he is being asked to consider a different academic direction.
And his family is left with a question that many of the affected parents are also asking:
If a student has worked hard enough to achieve a 4.6 or 4.8 CGPA and has spent years pursuing Nursing, why should that student’s course be changed without a clear explanation of the basis for the decision?
The affected parents are calling on LASU to explain the criteria used for the changes, clarify whether academic performance was considered, and state what options are available to students who do not wish to accept their new course allocations.
They are also seeking clarification on the allegations that students with lower CGPAs have remained in Nursing while some students with higher CGPAs have been moved.
