Blade Nzimande: Student debt is a threat to sustainability of higher education in SA
Minister Blade Nzimande has emphasized that the extent of student debt posed a serious threat to the future sustainability of the country’s higher education institutions.
Nzimande, South Africa’s higher education minister, on Tuesday announced that the current student debt owed to tertiary institutions stood at around R16.5 billion.
The department also announced that all prospective students who had been approved for NSFAS funding would be able to register for the 2023 academic year without having to pay a registration fee.
Addressing the issue of student debt, the minister, said that the government was set on wrapping up consultations on the comprehensive student funding model.
“We have got a report now of the ministerial task team and we’re just concluding consultations on that, with the aim of going back to Cabinet to hopefully adopt a comprehensive student funding model on that with the aim of going back to Cabinet by the end of the current financial year or not very late in the new financial year,” Minister Nzimande said.
Nzimande said that the current cost of debt annually amounted to about R1.5 billion.
“… money that could be directed towards infrastructure development and or growing our academic system…”
The minister has reminded prospective students who have not yet applied for NSFAS funding that they can still do so until 31 January.
-EWN
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