Students are appealing for intervention from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme and the respective universities. (Oupa Nkosi)
Thousands of university students residing in accommodation registered with the Private Student Housing Association (PSHA) could face eviction after the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) failed to settle its debt of R44 million from the 2024 academic year.
The association, representing providers housing more than 80 000 students, issued a warning to the financial scheme more than a fortnight ago. The arrears relate to “students [that] were allowed to lodge using their provisionally funded or funded NSFAS”, said its chief executive, Kagisho Mamabolo.
“Our members have informed us NSFAS is still engaging them individually to reconcile the data, and to compare where NSFAS had paid the “middle-man” [the respective universities] to pay the landlord,” he said.
“In some other cases, NSFAS paid the university to pay the landlord. Whatever the case/ process, the payment did not reach the landlords, which proves the continued inefficiencies.”
Last week protests erupted at Nelson Mandela University and the University of the Western Cape (UWC), with students accusing the institutions of failing to provide them with adequate accommodation.
Hundreds of students threw stones at UWC gates after some of them had to sleep in the university corridors. This was despite the university saying it secured an additional 1 180 beds this year to address the accommodation crisis.
Social movement Equal Education Tertiary Society said even though the university claimed to have additional beds, this “directly contradicts the reality students face on the ground”.
“The complete lack of cohesion in the university’s housing strategy is exacerbating the crisis instead of resolving it. Moreover, the desperation for accommodation has led to increased exploitation of students by private landlords,” said the society’s chairperson, Sinoyolo Ngantweni.
Students from the University of Johannesburg say they have had to pay a “top-up” fee in addition to their deposit to some accommodation providers accredited by NSFAS in the city.
This is despite the scheme urging “landlords not to demand a deposit or top-up payment from NSFAS-funded students”, citing the standardised fixed-term lease agreement between private accommodation providers and NSFAS-funded students.
For instance, students seeking accommodation said they had to pay a monthly “top-up” fee of R1 350 at Richmond Corner in Auckland Park.
“They said to us that we must pay R1 350 over the R5 000 that is given to us by NSFAS for accommodation, otherwise they [Richmond Corner] will not be able to secure a space for us at the residence,” one said.
Responding to queries from the M&G, Richmond Corner said it only charged a booking fee of R950, which was required from all students, including NSFAS-funded ones, to secure their rooms.
“NSFAS students who are on the funded list for 2025 are placed in a ‘two sharing’,” it added.
Student leaders said the accommodation provider had refused to address their concerns despite their constant pleas.
“When we went to the residence, they kicked us out and said they would only talk if we brought the student representative council of UJ with us,” said student activist Donald Mkhwanazi.
J-One student accommodation in Braamfontein, International Varsity Lodge and Jezreel Trading Student Accommodation in Hursthill have demanded that students pay an administration fee of R250.
“We are demanding that there is intervention by NSFAS and the universities to investigate what is going on so that students can process peacefully with the rest of the academic year and not have to worry about accommodation,” Mkhwanazi said.
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse has raised concerns about NSFAS’s management of student accommodation, saying the scheme is “sitting on a student accommodation time bomb”.
Although NSFAS has not released official figures on its beneficiaries, last year it said it had approved 550 000 applications for the 2025 academic year. According to the University of Johannesburg’s consolidated list, NSFAS will fund 25 743 students in 2025.
In 2023, then higher education and training minister Blade Nzimande capped the accommodation allowance at R45 000 per student a year, down from R60 000. He said this was to “manage the unregulated increasing costs for student accommodation.”
For the current academic year, NSFAS recipients registered at higher education institutions receive up to R45 000 a year for accommodation while students at Technical Vocational Education and Training colleges get R33 000.