The Student Representative Council (SRC) at Wits University has revealed that Wits has committed to paying the fees of LLB students.
This only applies to postgraduate LLB students who were affected by the funding crisis when NSFAS said, without much warning and a proper announcement, that they would no longer be funding postgraduate degrees.
A statement released by the SRC read:
We have successfully managed to get the University to commit to pay for tuition of Post graduate LLB who were casualties of this funding crisis.
NSFAS previously funded LLB, PGCE and PGDA degrees but this year, they said, "As of the 2021 academic year, NSFAS will no longer provide funding for postgraduate courses". This lead to many postgraduate students, some already registered, leaving left in the dirt without any solution to how they would pay for their fees.
The SRC is said to be trying to negotiate with both Wits and NSFAS to have PGCE students assisted with their fees as well. The statement continued to say:
We have also met with the CEO of NSFAS who stated that they are working on resolving this issue for both Postgrad LLB and PGCE and they will give us a response by the 25 June.
They then continued to say that they would take necessary action if they need to and urges students to "hang in there, help is on the way".
NSFAS has previously said that they do not have enough resources to fund postgrad qualifications due to the shortfall experienced in 2020.
NSFAS Spokesperson, Kagisho Mamabolo, said, "NSFAS does not fund second qualifications. It's a government policy. The demand for funding is far more higher than the resources available."
The Minister of Higher Education, Blade Nzimande, is working on a proposal which aims to solve the issue of postgrad funding. This proposal will be submitted to Cabinet before the end of June.
— Wits SRC (@Wits_SRC) June 22, 2021
