Varsities will need extra R6.8bn
A TOTAL of R6.8bn must be made available to plug a university funding shortfall triggered in part by the decision not to raise fees next year, says a task team appointed in October.
A TOTAL of R6.8bn must be made available to plug a university funding shortfall triggered in part by the decision not to raise fees next year.
The figure was given to President Jacob Zuma by a task team he appointed in October to look into university funding in the wake of student protests fuelled by fee hikes. Mr Zuma said 83% of the shortfall would be transferred to institutions next month, while the rest would come by April.
A total of 72,753 students are set to benefit from the transfers.
A commission to look into the viability of free education would also be announced soon, the Presidency said.
The task team submitted its report to Mr Zuma on Tuesday, he said during a Day of Reconciliation address in Port Elizabeth yesterday. The task team has recommended a process to develop a “new financing model” that could help students from lower middleincome homes access tertiary education through unsecured loans.
This will add pressure to the fiscus. Former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene said in the mediumterm budget policy statement in October that no more money would go to universities this year.
Treasury spokeswoman Phumza Macanda said: “The Treasury was part of the task team.… The solutions presented by the Presidency reflect work done by the government including Treasury.”
The task team has also identified possible triggers for further student protests when the new academic year starts, including registration payments, a shortfall in National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) funding and the “missing middle” (lower middleincome students).
The R6.8bn consists of a R2.3bn funding hole created by the fees freeze for next year and a R4.5bn shortfall in NSFAS funding. The state and universities will club together for the R2.3bn, while the Treasury will find the R4.5bn.
“This amount (R4.5bn) will also be made available through reprioritisation from the fiscus,” read a Presidency statement.
The funding will benefit 72,753 students. Half the money will be made available in the current financial year and the remainder will come in the following year.
“Let me state that while the right to protest is protected and supported, all students, student leaders and formations should renounce anarchy and the destruction of university and private property,” Mr Zuma cautioned yesterday, far away from protests in Cape Town and Pretoria calling for him to step down.
A new university funding model is expected to be implemented in 2018 and should include “the private banking sector and other business interests to incorporate options for the ‘missing middle’ that provide loans at favourable interest rates”.
Universities SA chairman Adam Habib said the body, which represents the country’s vicechancellors, welcomed the “phenomenal response” by Mr Zuma in adopting the task team’s recommendations, also on the NSFAS’s multibillion-rand shortfall. “We are anticipating challenges (next month), there is no doubt about that. This task team goes some way (but) doesn’t resolve all of the problems,” said Prof Habib.
One of the primary issues next year would be students falling within the “missing middle”.