Ndayambaje, I.Ampofo, S. Y.Bizimana, B.Otieno, M. A.Ogeta, N.O.Orodho, J . A.2016-01-122016-01-122015-04IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science (IOSR-JHSS) Vol. 20, Issue 4, pg 29-38. DOI: 10.9790/0837-20462938, www.iosrjournals.org2279083722790845http://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/14024DOI: 10.9790/0837-20462938This study sought to examine the challenges of social and spill-over benefits as motivating factors to investment in formal education in selected countries of Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda. The main argument in the paper is that investment in education is serious business and is an imperative led by the fact that education holds returns and externalities to society at large. The study was premised on human capital theory. A desk research design that reviewed secondary data from local and international publications on social and spill over benefits of education was adopted focusing on Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda. The findings indicate that education is considered as a key sector not only in the selected countries but also in other developing nations. It was also evident that priority was placed mostly on primary and secondary education gauged by the considerable public financial resource allocation to these sectors. The major challenges include limited financial ability, competitive needs, and national global trends, amongst others. The study concluded that although these countries were striving to become democratic, self-reliant and middle income nations by conquering long terms set visions, it is imperative to invest substantially in TVET and higher education. It was recommended that there was need for concerted efforts among the private sector, local community and any further potential stakeholder to support these governments’ efforts as they also enjoy the educational returns. The way forward for Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda is to put in place strong institutions that effectively and rationally ensure the prudent use of all available resources towards maximum educational outputs [259 words].enSocial BenefitsSpill-over BenefitsPrivate Rate of ReturnsCost- Benefit Analysis in EducationAfricaGhanaKenyaRwandaArticle