Free education over the next five years
Changes to be made in a fiscally responsible manner – minister
STUDENTS will only be able to realise President Jacob Zuma’s announcement of free education over the next five years, says Higher Education and Training Minister Hlengiwe Mkhize. Yesterday she briefed the media on the “Subsidised Free Higher Education for Poor and Working-Class Students” policy announced by Zuma last month.
Mkhize said the weak economy and rising debt put significant pressure on public finances, limiting the space for any new policy commitments.
“Changes to the post-school education and training system will be undertaken in a fiscally sustainable manner. In practice, this means rolling out reforms at a measured pace and reprioritising funding within existing budgets. This policy decision will be phased in over a five-year period.”
She said the policy entailed extending and strengthening the government’s support for poor students, changing the definition of the poor working class to include families with a joint income of R350 000 a year and providing full bursaries for tuition and study materials to qualifying poor and working-class students at public institutions.
“The NSFAS (National Student Financial Aid Scheme) has already received in excess of 300 000 applications for the 2018 academic year at universities and TVET (Technical Vocational Education and Training) colleges.
“This approach allows the government to gradually phase in fully subsidised, free higher education for eligible students in a fiscally sustainable manner.”
She gave assurances that all applicants in possession of a firm offer from a university or TVET college would be assessed for funding using the revised criteria. All those in possession of a firm offer but who had not applied for NSFAS funding, would be helped and students who might not have applied at institutions or NSFAS would be assisted through the Central Applications Clearing House.
NSFAS chief executive Steven Zwane said free education was a joint effort and they were an integral part of it. “We wanted to assure South Africans that the state has been supplying elements of free education since 1991. This is just an opportunity to increase the number of people who get that benefit.” He said they were thrilled to see that so many South Africans were interested. “It gives the impression that South Africans want to access higher education and the bulk of the applications we received meet the new criteria.”