Government is considering placing an upper limit on student tuition fees in the public higher education system, Education Minister Naledi Pandor said on Friday.
Widening access to higher education has led to pressing cost challenges, she told MPs in the National Assembly during debate on her budget vote.
Students were supported through the National Student Financial Assistance Scheme (NSFAS), mainly through a model of deferred payment, with the carrot of a loan transfer to a bursary for early and successful completion.
”However, there is concern that tuition fees restrict access to universities,” Pandor said.
Student-fee incomes had doubled over the past five years from R2,5-billion to R5-billion.
Student tuition fee collections had become a critical resource issue in the higher education sector, and institutions had funded increases in the volumes of their activities by raising student tuition fees to ”unreasonably” high levels.
In turn, this had put pressure on state funding to the NSFAS. While fees had doubled over the past five years, the increase in funding to the NSFAS was only 30%.
Given the increasing gap between NSFAS allocations and fee totals, the financial strain on students and their families, particularly the economically disadvantaged, had increased to levels where higher education equity policies were under threat.
”Consequently, I am considering the introduction of a new policy on tuition fees,” Pandor said.
”It would give government the power to place upper limits on the total tuition fee collections of the public higher education system.
”This would probably mean that the government block-grant funds and tuition fees will be considered as a joint income stream. We face hard choices on funding, quality and management. We know that universities are struggling to employ the best academics, because of the loss of academics to other systems and to the
science councils.
”We know that academic salaries must be improved. It is also very obvious that there is an investment backlog in teaching and research facilities.”
This year would see the conclusion of the department’s study into the funding of higher education.
Initial results pointed to the need to address inadequate funding levels and also suggested more should be done to develop frameworks of accountability and transparency in higher education funding, Pandor said. – Sapa