The education sector especially higher education in Nigeria faces financial challenges. The recurrent cost of university education constitutes about 95% of the total cost incurred by the government in Nigeria. However, the Nigerian government is unable to meet the UNESCO recommendation that 26% of national budgets should be allocated to education. This raises a need to develop measures to manage the cost of operating the institutions of higher learning in the country. Using the Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria as a case study, this study examined ways in which recurrent cost of university education can be minimized in the face of under-funding and still achieve effectiveness. Using cross-sectional descriptive statistics, the study specifically examined the variation in the recurrent cost per student between 2007 and 2011. Findings revealed variation in the cost per student from one faculty to another, and that this variation is mainly a result of differential utilization of the academic staff indicated by the student-teacher ratio. It was recommended that rather than embarking on continual employment of staff, institutions should train the existing staff to training in order to facilitate efficient delivery of services. Remuneration packages should be revised the number of workers should be reduced and their services supplemented by the use of technologically.