University students are concerned that the proposed debt relief mechanism to enable owing students to register for the 2021 academic year is not an answer to their financial woes as they will still have historical debts in their name next year.
They say they will continue with their protests if their demands are not met. South African universities have been under siege from student organisations demanding the cancellation of student debt.
The students have been protesting since Monday last week and this led higher education and training minister Blade Nzimande to meet with Universities South Africa (USAf) to discuss the current funding shortfall and student funding and debt challenges in higher education and the broader post-school education and training sector.
Though USAf admitted that universities do not have funding to scrap the historical debts, it said academically deserving students would need to sign a debt relief acknowledgement to be able to register. However, the students are concerned that the historical debts will still affect them next year.
Nzimande said specific attention was being given to the plight of senior students who were National Student Financial Aid Scheme ( NSFAS) bursary recipients before the 2018 NSFAS policy framework and the “missing middle” income students, where severe financial difficulties may be experienced.
Nzimande announced that all 26 universities had committed to using several debt relief mechanisms on a case-by-case basis to enable academically deserving students to register and complete their studies without undermining the underlying financial stability of each institution.
“It was also agreed that the public needs to understand that the higher education sector is already under financial stress because of declining subsidy levels and the current reprioritisation of funding to compensate NSFAS shortfall. Therefore, any further debt relief measures must take into account the underlying stability of the system and differential capacities of individual institutions to absorb debt,” he said.
A 28-year-old BA in communication science student at Unisa who owes R10,000 in study fees said this was going to help them for the time being.
“We will still be faced with the same predicament next year and the situation will be worse as we will still owe for this academic year. I am excited that I am going to register, hopefully there will be a solution for the historical debts,” said the student who asked not to be identified.
A 25-year-old third-year BCom student from the University of Johannesburg said her parents were paying for her school fees but as a result of the pandemic it has been difficult for them to do so.
“I owe R30,000 from last year’s fees and I don’t mind signing the debt relief acknowledgement. However, I am worried that next year it will be the same thing again as I don’t know where will I get this amount,” she said.
South African Students Congress (Sasco) secretary-general, Buthanani Thobela, said the protest continues at the universities that have not agreed to their conditions.
“University of Western Cape, University of Cape Town and Nelson Mandela University have agreed to our conditions, as a result their students will not be part of the protest. Our demands have not been met. We want NSFAS to increase the combined household income from R350,000 to R600,000 so as to accommodate students from the missing middle. The institutions should also open registrations for these students,” Thobela said.
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