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Higher Education, Science and Innovation Minister Dr. Blade Nzimande says the government will further regulate the country’s tuition fees in an effort to make them more affordable.
At a press conference on Thursday (November 26), Nzimande said that his department has been working towards a policy framework on regulating university fees.
However, this process was not completed by the 2021 academic year due to the uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, he said.
“Therefore, we have proposed a new fee pact for public universities, continuing with what has been in effect for the past few years.
“The intent of these fee pacts is to ensure that fee increases are kept at affordable levels, while ensuring that universities can remain sustainable.”
Nzimande said that he has written to all university councils with a proposal for a rate increase linked to the CPI for 2021. This would be 4.7% on tuition fees Y 6.7% on accommodation rates, in line with previous years.
“I am awaiting the response of the university councils on this matter,” he said.
Academic year 2020
Regarding fees for the current year, Nzimande said his department has now determined the financial implications related to the extended academic year.
He said that the University of Johannesburg and the University of Pretoria plan to complete the 2020 academic year during the month of November 2020.
He said eight other colleges plan to complete in December 2020. These include:
Cape Peninsula University of Technology
- Sol Picture University
- Stellenbosch University
- University of Cape Town
- University of the Free State
- Unisa
- University of the Western Cape
- Ingenuity
The country’s remaining universities and institutions plan to complete their academic years within the first three months of 2021, Nzimande said.
“Given the difficult fiscal situation in our country, no additional funds were provided to the National Plan for Financial Aid for Students (NSFAS) to support the payment of additional awards per extended year,” he said.
“Therefore, we asked NSFAS to identify funds to support the extended academic year.
“This was done within the entity’s existing allocations, and noting the crucial fact that there has been a significant increase in the number of college students qualifying for NSFAS funding in 2020.”
Nzimande said that NSFAS has therefore identified some funding to support the extended academic year, and that additional living grants will be made available to cover meals and personal expenses for those college students who qualify and require additional months to complete. complete your academic year.
“I want to emphasize that this is not blanket support: when students have completed their academic year, they will have to wait until academic year 2021 for their new assignments.
“NSFAS will work closely with universities to identify affected students and additional time for each student requiring support. Universities will have to provide this necessary information to NSFAS to allow assignments to be processed quickly. “
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