How expensive is free?

The idea of free university education is tempting, perhaps even necessary. But it does not balance the interests of student and state

There are three key differences between the student protests of 2015 and the almost constant backdrop of social unrest that has flared in SA over the past years. Together they suggest the emergence of a new kind of politics which is both welcome, because it suggests a new maturity, and dangerous, because it suggests that the link between formal politics and citizens is fraying.

For a start, this is the first major protest from which formal political parties were specifically ejected. No party could claim, or was allowed to claim, ownership of the protests — or even affiliated support. One of the defining moments was when Western Cape premier Helen Zille was whisked away by police at a #FeesMustFall protest in Stellenbosch, even though she agreed to just walk along with the crowd. Even the EFF failed to find a way in.

But the biggest loser was the ANC. Is it humanly possible to be less politically savvy than higher education minister Blade Nzimande’s tweeting the hashtag #studentsmustfall in the middle of an uprising? It was an act of Antoinettean high-handedness. In a split-second it underlined the idea that the ANC leadership is out of touch.

Second, the protests were multicultural, multiracial and multiclass. An extraordinary example is when police were about to swoop on the Eastcape Midlands College and white Rhodes students moved to the front of the march. As one tweeter said: “I’m tearing up. The white human shield. This is both incredibly beautiful and incredibly sad.”

The third unique aspect of this protest is that it was, at the same time, national and largely leaderless. National uprisings typically require a pre-existent national organisation. The Wits SRC did initiate the protest and there was some national coordination but, essentially, it was organic.

Faced with this sudden, inchoate threat, it is actually not surprising that the ANC caved in, so fast and so completely.

How do you deal with something so slippery?

The question now is: how far does all this go? In this edition, the Financial Mail discusses concrete suggestions as well as problems faced by universities in developing a funding model. This is no easy task.

Personally, I’m not convinced the students’ desire for “free” education is the best solution. Free — as anyone who cares to look hard enough will recognise — is almost always very expensive. Free education is in fact a tax on the poor since it benefits rich and poor alike, instead of the poor specifically. Fairly recently, universities in the UK began charging fees while at the same time, German universities headed in the opposite direction.

Free university education sounds great, but the fee system was introduced because British universities were, like SA universities, struggling with issues of volume. Around 47% of British school graduates go to university — only 27% do so in Germany. Four British universities make the top 20 institutions worldwide, according to The Times Higher Education World University Rankings. The best German university, LMU Munich, just scrapes into the top 30. The staff:student ratio at LMU is higher than it is at Wits.

University students are, whether they recognise it or not, whether they are presently struggling or not, a privileged section of society. They are destined to fill the ranks of the middle class. With SA’s unemployment rate so high, university positions have become not just important, but vital, to get to the front of the queue. Hence, universities are crammed to the brim. Student numbers have doubled since 1994, while subsidies per student are down about 20%. The result is that pass rates have been dropping, and only 20% of “contact” students eventually graduate.

Almost everything imaginable is wrong with this picture. It’s actually not surprising that SA has a national student protest; it’s amazing it has taken so long.