By Johnathan Paoli
The Democratic Alliance has demanded that Higher Education and Training Minister Buti Manamela put a concrete, funded rescue plan for the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) on the table, saying that universities and students cannot continue carrying the cost of the scheme’s financial crisis.
DA higher education spokesperson Delmaine Christians said Manamela’s acknowledgement of a projected NSFAS shortfall was not enough, and called for urgent measures to deal with billions of rands owed to universities as well as a sustainable funding model.
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“It is no longer sufficient for the Minister to acknowledge that NSFAS has a funding problem. Students and institutions need to know how he intends to fix it,” Christians said.
The DA’s call comes after Parliament was told last month that NSFAS owed universities about R10.49 billion in 2026 tuition payments, with only 61.5% of university allocations having been paid at that stage.
Manamela has warned that the scheme’s financial shortfall could reach R33 billion by 2029 if the current funding model remains unchanged.
Speaking to the media last week, Manamela said government was already engaging the National Treasury over an estimated R15 billion shortfall.
“Last year it was R13 billion. The year before it was R7 billion. The year before it was R5 billion. The first year when we introduced the policy was R2.5 billion. Estimates are that by 2029, we would have a shortfall of R33 billion at NSFAS,” Manamela said.
He said that the problem cannot be attributed solely to governance instability at NSFAS, saying the underlying funding policy itself is unsustainable.
But Christians said talk is cheap and that the figures demonstrated the urgency of producing an immediate intervention and a long-term solution.
“Despite repeated talk shops, the Minister has failed to provide an interim crisis plan to pay money owed, and a long-term sustainable funding model solution to the absolute disaster that is NSFAS. This cannot become another crisis simply rolled into the next academic year,” she said.
Manamela said about R56 billion of his department’s budget was directed towards the scheme.
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He warned that a failure of NSFAS would have consequences extending beyond students who rely on monthly allowances.
The minister acknowledged that the scheme still funded hundreds of thousands of students, but said any failure to pay even one student was unacceptable.
Manamela said the government was also considering an income-contingent loan system as part of efforts to develop a more sustainable funding model.
Under such a system, students would not pay upfront and would begin repaying once their income reached a predetermined threshold.
He cited Australia as an example, but said any South African model would have to be adapted to local conditions.
Manamela said stabilising NSFAS and preparing it for the 2027 academic year were immediate priorities.
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