Tertiary institutions around the country have been experiencing ongoing accommodation challenges since the beginning of this year. The recent R45 000 price cap introduced by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) and the lack of affordable housing close to campus had students at many public universities protesting in response to the crisis.
Now, three months into the academic year, the matter is yet to be completely resolved.
At the end of last month, NSFAS met with the Parliamentary Committee to discuss the current student accommodation issues and related matters.
During this meeting, NSFAS informed members of parliament that existing data on accommodation, the Ministerial Task Team report and available market data which looked at the generic student housing market was examined when establishing this price cap.
However, the bursary scheme admits that more work and research is needed as this was the first time an accommodation cap had been implemented.
It is not that students are using their accommodation fees irresponsibly, but rather that service providers are charging students outrageous amounts for small rooms, said NSFAS.
This accommodation cap allows the government to allocate its limited resources to support more students who do not have access to student accommodation funding. However, 11 of the 26 public universities responded unhappily to the cap, claiming that they would be negatively affected by it.
Other challenges included delays in NSFAS allowance payments. At the time of the committee meeting, NSFAS reported that TVET colleges have already received two payment runs based on the registration data received from these colleges. Students with no user profiles were paid by 18 March 2023.
Since then, NSFAS has committed to making payments on a weekly basis. If students were not paid it was because of late registration data submitted to them by the respective institutions.
TVET colleges and universities were paid upfront on 31 January 2023 and an additional upfront payment was made to universities on 6 March 2023. These payments were made while institutions were still finalising allowance allocations and claims registration data.
Following the confirmation by the Minister of the 10% increase, colleges and universities have started loading the registration data. This increase is for living allowances, not all allowances, and the accommodation cap will remain at R4 500 per month.
NSFAS has also started making allowance payment weekly so that students do not need to wait until the end of the month, regardless of what funding decisions are made. These weekly payments will be made four times a month.
University payment data indicates that 800 000 students have received upfront payments between 31 January and 6 March 2023.
Parliamentary members were satisfied at the outcome of this meeting, but advised NSFAS to respond more swiftly to false allegations circulating in the media as it negatively impacts their public perception. The Committee was also given the research on the accommodation cap by the financial aid scheme.
