By Thapelo Molefe
Deputy Higher Education and Training Minister Mimmy Gondwe has called for the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) to be scrapped and replaced with a new university-driven funding system, while Higher Education Minister Buti Manamela warned that the current student funding model is financially unsustainable.
Delivering the Higher Education and Training budget vote debate in Parliament on Tuesday, Gondwe said NSFAS had repeatedly failed students and institutions and should no longer remain the country’s central student funding mechanism.
“There is no longer a need for NSFAS. NSFAS has repeatedly failed, and it is time to replace it with a student funding model which sees our higher education institutions themselves select students and assess their financial needs and then apply directly to National Treasury,” Gondwe said.
She said the Post School Education and Training (PSET) sector should be judged not by enrolment numbers, but by whether graduates leave institutions with employable skills and pathways into work.
She said that universities should take direct responsibility for determining students’ financial needs and managing applications for tuition and living allowances.
Gondwe said the replacement funding model should place greater emphasis on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), occupations in high demand and scarce skills needed by the economy.
Her remarks came as youth unemployment among people aged 15 to 24 remains at 60.9%.
“This is not merely an economic crisis. It is a national crisis and a ticking time bomb,” Gondwe told Parliament.
“The true measure of the success of the PSET sector cannot simply be about how many young people enter into our institutions, but whether those young people leave our institutions with the skills and training that is needed and demanded by our economy,” she said.
While Gondwe called for NSFAS to be dismantled, Manamela stopped short of endorsing the proposal but acknowledged that the current funding model could not continue in its present form.
Speaking during a media briefing before tabling the department’s R149.2 billion budget vote, Manamela said government was discussing long-term reforms to student funding.
“The model as it stands now is unsustainable,” Manamela said.
“Year after year after year, we’ve been going to Treasury saying to them, give us more money.”
Earlier this month, Manamela placed NSFAS under administration, citing governance instability, legal concerns and operational failures at the institution.
He confirmed that discussions were under way within Cabinet about the future of NSFAS and other student funding reforms.
“There is no proposal that is off the table,” Manamela said.
The minister said government was trying to find a sustainable model that would support poor students as well as the “missing middle”, students who do not qualify for NSFAS grants but still cannot afford higher education.
Manamela also pointed to rising student debt at universities, saying estimates ranged between R18 billion and R26 billion.
“The fact that we’ve got such a huge figure in terms of student debt shows that the demand for student loans is high,” he said.
Manamela said government had already moved to stabilise the scheme.
“Where the institution fell short of the public trust placed in it, we acted within the law to restore order.”
The minister also defended government’s interventions in higher education entities, saying accountability and oversight would be tightened across the sector.
“We will defend institutional autonomy, but we will not confuse autonomy with impunity,” he said.
