An increase in poorer students and a decrease in government funding has left universities battling to resolve a cash crisis, writes Andy Duffy
THOUSANDS of students could be refused entry to universities next year amid an escalating funding crisis which is forcing institutions to axe staff and courses.
Wits, Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Pretoria, Fort Hare and Orange Free State universities are all drawing up rationalisation plans, as they struggle to balance lower government funding with an expected increase in numbers of poorer students.
The Department of Education says attempts to widen student enrolment will be scuppered unless more government money is pumped into the sector.
But deputy director general John Samuels says the new national education budget is expected at best to lift expenditure on tertiary education in line with inflation.
“There’s no doubt the sector is under serious financial constraints,” Samuel says. “We can’t really talk about the system without putting more resources in. If the trend continues either students will have to be cut back or fees will increase dramatically.”
Wits says it is drawing up a “strategic” reshaping plan, which includes adjusting staff levels, focussing on science and technology courses, and reviewing the more generous elements of its bursary system.
“Universities until now have been able through bursaries and scholarships to support any student who passes,” representative David Williams says.
“I don’t think any of the universities are in a position to continue doing this. We will come to a point where there will be a student who can’t pay his fees and so can’t continue.”
Stellenbosch has started a four-year programme to cut nearly one-fifth of its 1 800 academic staff. Costs are also being pruned by farming out services such as building and catering.
The University of Pretoria is planning to cut courses and staff, Orange Free State is rationalising costs, and Fort Hare says it is streamlining to focus on courses such as agriculture and science (which attract higher government funding).
“We expected a post-apartheid dividend of substantially more funding,” a Fort Hare representative says. “To our dismay, anticipated resources are unavailable.”
Universities and technikons draw the bulk of their funding from government subsidies, with fees, outside donations and investment income providing the remainder.
Government funding for each institution is adjusted each year, depending on a variety of criteria. The theme over the past 10 years, however, has been cutting the subsidies – a trend only halted last year – while student fees climb higher.
The subsidy to the University of Cape Town (UCT) fell 37% in real terms between 1985 and 1995 (when it was R195,7-million), cutting its contribution to the university’s net revenue to 57% in 1995 from 75,3% in 1985.
Samuels says the department is aiming to lift the subsidies’ contribution to the universities’ funding back to 70% of their total revenue needs, with real increases pushed through last year. Subsidies accounted for 69,5% of Port Elizabeth Technikon’s funding in 1996, from 60,4% in 1995 (though its overall revenues dropped to R66-million from R94,2-million in 1995, despite an increase in students).
But even if subsidies do rise in the next year, it is thought unlikely the increase will be anywhere near to meeting the higher costs linked to enrolling more disadvantaged students. The proportion of fee-paying students is also not expected to rise.
Asked about possible cutbacks, UCT identified its financial aid and academic development programmes – which costs it R30- million a year – as a potential target.
It says the government funding formula takes no account of the financial background of a university’s students. “We are very concerned about the extent of the budget cuts that may arise and that may be impossible for us to accommodate,” a representative says.
The universities’ finances are also being hampered by rising student debt, either from unpaid fees or loans. Stellenbosch is currently owed R11,3-million, Orange Free State R10-million, UCT R16-million and Fort Hare R18-million.
Several technikons were contacted for details of their funding, but failed to respond before the Mail & Guardian went to press.