New university funding model to help fees fall

Feasibility trial gets under way at selected institutions in 2018

THE DEPARTMENT of Higher Education and Training says it is ready to pilot a new funding model to try to bridge the gap for the so-called “missing middle” students.

The missing middle are students who do not qualify for the National Student Financial Aid Scheme but also cannot afford to pay for their own higher-education fees.

In an effort to try to ensure better access to tertiary education for these students, the department will from the 2018 academic year pilot the Ikusasa student financial aid scheme.

The model will be piloted at Wits University, Tshwane University of Technology, Walter Sisulu University of Technology, University of Venda, University of KwaZulu-Natal and at ORBIT Technical Vocational Education and Training College.

Department spokesperson Madikwe Mabotha said the pilot would accommodate 2 000 students to the tune of about R200 million.

The pilot would fund students studying scarce-skilled professions like medicine, pharmacology, actuarial science, engineering and artisan courses like welding and plumbing. Stu- dents would be funded until they finished their studies.

“The pilot is about testing certain things about the model, and based on the results, we will decide when it will be rolled out to all the other institutions.

“While we are working on the pilot, Treasury will also be doing a feasibility study on how we can implement it,” Mabotha said.

The pilot project was developed by the ministerial task team investigating a comprehensive funding model for poor and missing-middle students.

The model was agreed to by the cabinet last month.

In a statement last week, higher education director-general Gwebinkundla Qonde said funded students would receive mentorship and counselling on financial fitness and finding employment once they graduate.

In addition to Ikusasa, Minister Blade Nzimande earlier this year announced that all students with a household income of R600 000 would not have to pay fees next year.

This was in response to students embarking on the #FeesMustFall protests, demanding free tertiary education.

Nzimande also announced that universities can increase their fees for the 2017 academic year by no more than 8 percent.