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While the DA understands the necessity of higher education tuition and accommodation increases, years of alleged National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) corruption and mismanagement, dubious supply chain management processes within the sector, and the ANC government’s unsustainable fee-free model for higher education mean that these increase are unfortunately limiting the number of students that could benefit from NSFAS funding, and also impacting affordability for the unfunded missing middle.

Last year NSFAS CEO, Masile Ramorwesi, warned that 87 000 NSFAS students might lose their funding due to budget cuts. The R45 000 per year student accommodation fee caps will also make it very difficult for vulnerable students to find suitable and safe accommodation.

Given the serious massive potential decline in access to higher education, the DA will send our sustainable alternative funding model to Higher Education Minister, Dr Blade Nzimande.

The DA’s policy focuses on:

Reforming NSFAS to create a sustainable funding environment through a tiered system for loans and grants that will provide substantial financial support to students from low-income households, including the missing middle;

Scrapping the blanket accommodation cap in favour of considering accommodation allowances on a case-by-case basis;

Ensuring that private student accommodation providers’ prices are market related and reporting allegations of price collusion to the competition commission; and

Collaborating with private student accommodation providers through the establishment of public-private partnerships

The DA notes that for higher education institutions to cover operational cost and research commitments, it requires sustainable funding to be on par with world class teaching and learning methodologies.

Minister Nzimande’s time to lead this sector has long gone and with recent allegations against him, it’s time for President Cyril Ramaphosa to heed the call for the Minister to be relieved of his duties.

No student should be left behind, and the DA will continue to push for a more inclusive higher education sector.

Issued by Chantel King MP - DA Shadow Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation