Abstract This study investigated the effects of the rising cost of education on the academic development of secondary school students in Ogbadibo Local Government Area of Benue State. The population of the study consisted of thirty (30) teachers drawn from five (5) public secondary schools in the area. Three (3) research questions guided the study, while two (2) hypotheses were formulated and tested at the 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted the survey research design. A sample of ten (10) male and female teachers was randomly selected for the study. A structured questionnaire titled “Effects of Rising Cost of Education on the Academic Development of Secondary School Students Questionnaire (EREADSSSQ)” was developed by the researcher and used for data collection. The study was anchored on Stiglitz Human Capital Development Theory (2018). Relevant concepts were reviewed. The instrument was subjected to face validation by experts. Data were analysed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions, while the hypotheses were tested using appropriate inferential statistics. Findings from the study revealed that an increase in the cost of education leads to reduced student enrolment and a higher rate of school dropout in the society. Based on these findings, the study recommended increased government funding for education as well as the establishment and expansion of scholarship programmes to support students who cannot afford the rising educational costs.