Universities South Africa (USAf) reported that 8 universities indicate a shortage of accommodation and expressed concern about the capacity of NSFAS to manage student accommodation allocations directly.
22 TVET Colleges and 17 Universities have now come on board with the National Student Financial Aid Scheme's (NSFAS) student accommodation project. This pilot project will see NSFAS accredit private accommodation providers.
NSFAS saw this as necessary as calls have come for them to make student accommodation safer for students. It's seen that students are exploited and charged exorbitant amounts for rent at private accommodation spaces and that some spaces are not in a good condition, conducive to learning.
Shortage of Student Accommodation
Private accommodation being accredited by NSFAS could also lead to there being more beds available for students.
However, concerns have been raised about this pilot project with organisations such as the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) who are worried that the accommodation tenders awarded by NSFAS could be connected to irregular activities and could lead to delays and backlogs, as witnessed previously with the new direct payment system.
According to OUTA, NSFAS reported to the Higher Education Portfolio Committee in Parliament that only 6.5% of beds were accredited by October 2023. Rudie Heyneke, OUTA’s Investigations Manager, said:
It is highly unlikely that there will be enough beds accredited in time for the new academic year that starts in a couple of weeks.
The South African Union of Students (SAUS) said that they "foresee a nightmare in January registration when it comes to student accommodation both in universities and TVET colleges".
During a parliamentary committee meeting, the union said the shortage of quality and affordable housing units to accommodate university students has become one of the major challenges facing the higher education in South Africa.
"We are recommending for the re-opening of the off-take agreement process by NSFAS to deal with the recurring accommodation crisis ... no student from poor background must be left hungry and without shelter."
