By Lebone Rodah Mosima
Students’ Representative Councils (SRCs) at four major universities have called for the R52,000 annual NSFAS accommodation cap to be scrapped, saying that funding shortfalls are driving poor and working-class students into debt and putting their studies at risk.
In a joint statement released earlier this week, SRCs from the University of Cape Town (UCT), University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), University of Johannesburg (UJ), and Stellenbosch University (SU) called on the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), and the Competition Commission to urgently address the student accommodation crisis.
They said the problems were not unique to the four institutions but reflected the experiences of students at public universities across South Africa.
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Last month, the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training expressed concern about accommodation funding shortfalls contributing to student debt at UCT during a briefing on governance, administration, teaching and learning, and other matters.
“UCT indicated that student accommodation cap introduced by NSFAS was reducing the number of students able to access university accommodation,” the committee said.
The committee said NSFAS introduced the cap in 2023 as a measure to prevent private accommodation providers from inflating prices.
“The problem is that there are corrupt individuals and private property owners who charge ridiculous amounts for student accommodation,” committee chairperson Tebogo Letsie said.
The committee noted that UCT absorbed the full funding shortfall on behalf of students in 2023, while the UCT SRC accused NSFAS of failing to provide clarity on whether its proposed referral of private accommodation providers to the Competition Commission had been made and what had become of it.
“The SRC said it wanted NSFAS to exempt all UCT-owned residences from the accommodation cap,” the committee stated.
The committee also said some student debt arising from accommodation funding shortfalls was linked to negotiations and contracts entered into by the university with private providers, even though the university did not financially benefit from student accommodation.
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In May, shortly after NSFAS was placed under administration, the scheme announced that more than R1.1 billion had been disbursed during that quarter for private accommodation payments, benefiting more than 100,000 students.
NSFAS said 95% of accommodation providers listed on its solution partner portals had verified their banking details and were included in direct payments for 2026.
The scheme said it was legally mandated to bring accommodation payment functions in-house from 2026, a move it claimed had helped resolve various system challenges.
According to NSFAS, the changes addressed delays by institutions in confirming students, the misclassification of students as transport-allowance recipients, and uncertainties around accommodation accreditation.
In a follow-up statement, the SRCs said that the continued enforcement of the accommodation cap, combined with a lack of regulation of accommodation pricing, had created an unsustainable environment that disproportionately affected poor and working-class students.
“Since the release of the original statement, it has become increasingly evident that this is a national higher education crisis requiring immediate and coordinated intervention,” they said.
“Students continue to face accommodation debt, threats of eviction, registration barriers, delayed academic progression, and uncertainty.”
They said the growing number of SRCs supporting the position demonstrated a collective belief across universities that the current system was failing students.
“This is no longer an issue affecting isolated institutions — it is a systemic crisis demanding national attention. We therefore reaffirm the demands contained in the original joint statement,” they said.
They called on DHET, NSFAS and the Competition Commission to remove the NSFAS accommodation cap, regulate student accommodation prices across the public and private sectors, and immediately announce the 2026 NSFAS meal and rental allowance rates.
“We remain committed to working collectively in defence of students and will continue to advocate until meaningful and lasting solutions are implemented,” they said.
