pretoria - The poor and the disadvantaged “missing middle” at South African universities were the winners of the government’s financial intervention for the 2017 academic year, but the stage has been set for a confrontation between students and the government.
Students at various universities have rejected any inkling of an increase in tuition fees, demanding “free education”.
On Monday, Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande announced poor students would receive “free education”, while an increase capped at 8% has been set for those who can afford to pay.
Nzimande said the government would pay for poor students; it would pay the difference in fees to account for the fee increases for next year. “Our recommendation is that fee adjustments should not go above 8% for next year,” he said.
Students on the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) and the so-called missing middle – those whose parents earned beyond the NSFAS threshold but couldn't afford the fees – would be cushioned from the increase, he said.
“The government is committed to finding resources to support the children of all poor, working and middle class families.”
The missing middle were children from households with an income of up to R600 000 a year. They would be subsidised.
“They will experience no fee increase; the government will pay for the fee adjustment."
This would bring relief to nurses, teachers, police, social workers and other parents who worked in occupations that did not pay enough.
Nzimande made the announcement on the controversial fee increase as weeks of tension mounted at universities across the country over the anticipated increases.
Students, under the #FeesMustFallReloaded campaign, had threatened a complete shutdown of all institutions of higher learning to get the attention of authorities.
They stated that going to class as if things were normal did not drive the message home. Fees would continue to climb to the exclusion of poor children, they said.
Students led a massive movement against fee increases last year, shutting down universities and damaging property. The process culminated in the now infamous march to the Union Buildings in October. In addressing their concerns that day, President Jacob Zuma announced a 0% increase for this academic year. “We lost millions and universities find themselves in very precarious situations,” said Nzimande.
Those losses included money paid by big corporates for university bursaries. “Even they asked us why they were included in the no-increase decision while they had budget for that,” he said.
As such, universities could not be expected to survive without the increase, he said.
The decision on hikes lay with university councils. “We realised that the best approach would be to allow universities individually to determine the level of increase required to ensure continued and effective operation.”
They did, however, need to take into account affordability to students, so the process had to be transparent.
Students across the country watched the announcement live, and opposition to the increases was immediate. The students wanted no increase and favoured free education.
But to this, the minister said: “There is nothing like free higher education; someone, the taxpayer, must pay for it.”
He said the government’s policy was to support children from poor backgrounds. They had the right to protest, but students had to be wary of being used for political gain.
“They must also not put themselves in situations where they fight for rich and wealthy parents. Surely they cannot do that in the South African context of glaring inequality.”
Students could not expect the children of cleaners to be put in the same basket as those of chief executives of big industry. “Students have a duty to understand the highly unequal society.”
The University of Pretoria, Unisa and Tshwane University of Technology were weighing the announcement, saying they would only comment after internal top-level discussions.
TUT spokeswoman Willa de Ruyter said: “We have no comment right now.
"We are still discussing it.”
Tuks said it would study the document and detail to determine the full implications of the decision.
“The university will engage all its stakeholders, including students and parents, on how to take this forward.
"We remain committed to finding solution,” spokeswoman Anna-Retha Bouwer said.
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