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The Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Dr. Blade Nzimande, has published a new framework detailing how the coronavirus lockdown will affect tuition and accommodation rates at the country’s universities and other higher education institutions.
The lockdown has had a major impact on the country’s students, with the country’s universities closed for several months during the peak of the pandemic.
While some students were able to continue their learning online, several students were unable to undertake any learning due to the practical requirements of their studies.
As a result, only some of the country’s universities are expected to complete their academic year in March 2021.
This has raised questions about tuition fees and accommodation costs, which are generally paid annually. There are also logistical issues surrounding the NSFAS program, which provides financial aid to various students.
Nzimande said the purpose of the new framework is to prescribe temporary payments and cash flow measures or steps currently required to alleviate, contain and minimize the effects of the Covid-19 threat to the public higher education sector.
This includes:
- The payment of NSFAS allowances to students, in particular allowances for living and lodging expenses;
- The payment of accommodation fees managed by the university for the academic years 2020 and 2021;
- The payment of accommodation fees for those who live in private accommodation, both under university and individual leasing;
- Payment of tuition fees.
“The framework will also provide guidelines to officials of public higher education institutions to disseminate information and all applicable measures for its implementation, to alleviate and contain the effects of the Covid-19 threat,” Minister Nzimande said.
Nzimande said the directive will also help ease financial strain on institutions, NSFAS, private fee-paying individuals and private accommodation providers, recognizing that the Covid-19 pandemic affects all groups in different ways.
Tuition fees
As for the tuition fee guidelines, Nzimande said the 2020 academic year is ‘conceptualized as a package’ regardless of its duration.
This means that the cost of tuition will remain the same for the 2020 academic year regardless of its extension for each institution, he said.
He added that the NSFAS payment of tuition fees to institutions will be made based on the agreed original tuition fee.
Accommodation fees
Nzimande said the cost of university-owned accommodation stays the same for the academic year, regardless of its duration, limited to the end of March 2021.
This assumes that while there will be periods of non-occupancy, most students will return for a period of time to complete the academic year, he said.
NSFAS payments for university-owned accommodation will also remain at the same original level as tuition fees.
“This means that, whenever possible, the costs for both academic years would be conceptualized as a package and the payments would be spread over the entire period,” he said.
Nzimande said that when there are periods of non-occupation of the accommodation, monthly payments can be reduced, based on a payment scheme that distributes the costs agreed during the extended academic year 2020.
In relation to individual private accommodation, where students are responsible for making payments themselves, the above principle will apply with respect to private accommodation registered and accredited by the university to the extent possible, he said.
Minister Nzimande said that NSFAS allowances have continued to be paid to students during the closing period and therefore NSFAS students are expected to continue to pay private accommodation providers in terms of their original lease.
However, whenever possible, institutions should facilitate vendor agreements on behalf of students to reduce payments for non-occupancy periods, but with full payment spread over the extended academic year.
“It should be noted that there is currently an ongoing process to model and plan for any additional academic year costs for NSFAS funded students. Currently no funds have been allocated or approved for additional costs for the academic year in 2020, ”said the minister.
You can read the new directive below.
Read: South African schools and universities will open later in 2021
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