Extra R1bn to pay student debt

The department of higher education and training has allocated nearly R1bn more to the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) to settle historic debt owed to universities by 52‚514 students.

“This is a significant contribution which will alleviate some of the debt owed to universities by students and is confirmation that the government is sensitive to the plight of students from poor and working-class families‚” higher education and training minister Naledi Pandor said.

The additional R967m was specifically for those students who were funded under the previous NSFAS scheme before significantly improved funding started in 2018.

According to 2018 funding support‚ students whose combined annual household income was less than R350‚000 a year qualified for free education.

In the case of continuing NSFAS-funded students‚ Pandor said those whose total annual family income was less than R122‚000 a year were required to fund part of their costs through family or own funding.

As a result‚ the amount of funding provided by NSFAS was sometimes insufficient to cover the total fees and the cost of study‚ particularly at universities and programmes with high fees.

This resulted in students accruing debt despite being funded by NSFAS.

Pandor said this was the first phase of the assessment of the historical debt owed to universities.

It is anticipated that all the students funded through the old scheme would exit the system by the 2022 academic year.