Most universities in South Africa have significantly increased their tuition and registration fees and for many students securing funding can be a tedious and challenging process. Students who come from poor and working class homes will qualify for NSFAS funding as part of the expanded NSFAS bursary scheme. This applies to both university and TVET College students.
What is the Missing Middle?
The “missing middle” refers to those students who come from working-class households that do not qualify for funds from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme while at the same time, they cannot afford higher education. This includes families from South Africa and immigrants living in the country.
You might say that the 'missing' in 'missing middle' refers to their funding for their studies - which is missing!
Speaking at a media briefing in Pretoria about the department's readiness for 2023, Minister Blade Nzimande stated that his department was working toward developing an alternative funding model for university and technical vocational education and training (TVET) college students in South Africa. This will include missing middle students, as well as those whose families can afford the fees.
According to Nzimande, the issue of the missing middle is being finalized within the new Comprehensive Funding Model which is expected to be introduced before the end of the new financial year.
We have got a report now of the ministerial task team and we're just concluding consultations on that, with the aim of going back to cabinet to hopefully adopt a comprehensive student funding model on that by the end of the current financial year or not very late in the new financial year.
In order to assist missing middle students, Nzimande says that within the new policy framework his department will avail loans and bursaries and direct these efforts toward students located within the scarce skills categories.
Institutions across South Africa are expected to welcome more than 208 000 first time students for the 2023 academic year.
Furthermore, Nzimande said that institutions will register all NSFAS-funded students without paying any upfront registration fees.
We will also work with universities to say those students who are willing to acknowledge debt must also be admitted, hoping it is the last time we make these arrangements [before the new funding model comes into effect].
The Minister said that the Nsfas will be able fund all qualifying students on the DHET bursary scheme who have been admitted at institutions in the country. But this still won't assist the missing middle students.
Prospective students who have not yet applied for NSFAS funding can still do so until 31 January 2023.
University of Johannesburg's Missing Middle Fund
Many universities are trying to find their own solutions to the missing middle problem. At the University of Johannesburg that have launched the
Double our Future Impact. They hope that the campaign will assist as many as 10 000 students with their 2023 registration fees. The Vice-Chancellor of the University, Professor Letlhokwa Mpedi has pledged R50 000 towards this fundraising campaign. Prof Mpedi says he has been pained by seeing academically deserving students scrambling to raise funds towards their registration fees. "There is nothing more depressing than watching academically deserving students struggling to register simply because they don’t have the financial means," says Prof Mpedi.
