"We welcome the additional financial assistance to poor students and working class ('missing middle') families," Stellenbosch University (SU) Rector and Vice-Chancellor Prof Wim de Villiers said on Monday (19 September 2016).
He was commenting on the announcement by the Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr Blade Nzimande, earlier today (Monday 19 September), that students from households with an annual income less than R122 000 per year will continue to qualify for NSFAS funding, including an 8% increase for the 2017 academic year. The Minister also announced that students from households in the income bracket R122 000 to R600 000 per year, will receive a gap-funding grant from the government to ensure that they will be paying the same tuition fees as in 2015.
"In principle, we fully support fee-free quality higher education for poor students. Ideally, this should be the case for all students, however, as this is not feasible in the current economic climate without a substantial additional investment from government, universities still require cost sharing from government grants plus tuition fees from those who can afford to pay. These recommendations will be included in our 2017 budget proposal for final approval by our University Council," he said.
SU then proposes a differentiated bursary model according to a sliding scale aligned with the annual household income of a student's family (means test):
- In 2017, for those with a household income of below R122 000 per year, adequate NSFAS funding will be provided to include an 8% increase.
- SU provides bursaries to all academically qualifying students in the income group between R122 000 and R240 000 per year.
- For the group in the bracket between R240 000 and R600 000 per year, SU currently provides variable financial assistance to academically qualifying students, and the government's gap-funding grant will make up for the shortfall between the 2015 and 2017 tuition fees.
- SU believes that the additional government support and its already existing bursary model, amounting to R658 million in total, will cover the vast majority of the so-called "missing middle" students
"We support the sectoral approach of a proposed 8% increase in tuition fees for 2017. The increase in income will assist SU to continue providing bursaries to financially needy, academically deserving students. Our financial aid to students comprises more than 50% of our total annual income from student fees. The budget will now be adapted and prepared for consideration and approval by our University Council. Academically deserving students should not be excluded based on financial reasons," Prof De Villiers said.
"We also welcome the government's commitment to further explore funding models to include additional financial assistance for the 'missing middle'," he added.
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