CPUT STRIKES AGAIN OVER THE LACK OF FUNDS FROM THE NATIONAL STUDENT FINANCIAL AID SCHEME

It is no undisclosed matter that the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) lacks funds. It was estimated in 2013 by the former acting CEO at NSFAS Nathan Johnstone that NSFAS needs to triple its budget in order to cater for all the students who require financial assistance. A lot of students’ dreams were however shattered this year after they were financially excluded by the NSFAS.

This is why at the dawn of August 6 2015, Pan Africanist Student Movement of Azania (PASMA) members were preparing for a strike over the lack of funds in the NSFAS on the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) Cape Town campus and Bellville campus

This was the second strike in one year the CPUT institution has had regarding the lack of funds of NSFAS. The first strike transpired in February 2015 at the Bellville campus where tens of students were arrested and severely injured.

According to the Department of Higher Education (2015) 4 378 students at the University of Johannesburg were excluded from NSFAS. These were returning students and those applying for the first time who met the NSFAS requirements. Institutions including the Tshwane University of Technology, Vaal University of Technology, University of KwaZulu-Natal and the CPUT were amongst the institutions with the highest number of students who were excluded by the NSFAS.

The strike began in Cape Town, were students were chanting and forcing their way into lecture rooms. Once they were able to force their way in, they sang to the top of their voices and threatened everyone to leave and not attend any more classes. The striking students vowed students who refuse to leave will be dealt with physically. The fuming students then relocated to the Bellville campus to mobilize more students to join them.

The mentality the striking students have is that, if one student is affected, then the rest of the students are affected. However this is not true in this case as some students claimed they are not students of the NFAS and are either funding their fees themselves, or by financial support from parents or by bursaries and the strike was depriving them of their basic right to education.

According to the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) there have been protests at 10 universities against the government-sponsored NSFAS after fees were not paid.

Yandisa, an irritated second year ND Accounting said: I’m upraised by a single parent who has worked hard for me to enter varsity. She has been saving my entire life so I can get a decent higher education. It was not easy but she did it! I spoke to my mother over the phone and she is also pissed of what is happening. This is unfair on the rest of us. Not all of us are on NSFAS! Those of us who are not on NSFAS should not be deprived of their right to education.

A lecture who wished to remain anonymous said: If the students really want to be successful in their march they need to go to the Administration and NSFAS offices and close them down.  Marching in and out of classes will only last for an hour after two hours things will go back to normal and the so-called ‘strike’ will not be effective.

"The money is not enough to fund everybody. There are various opportunities that the door of education and training has opened. There are artisan opportunities. Also now in further education and training colleges, we are also funding students for that. There are a lot of initiatives to make sure we reduce the number of youth that are doing nothing. This is not the only place for youth to be skilled and to be employable in the economy." (Msulwa Daca, 2014)

According to the CPUT Vice- Chancellor, Dr Prins Nevhutalu, about 2 300 students could not be funded in 2015 due to a NSFAS shortfall of about R 73 million. The CEO of the institution has indicated that he is hard at work fundraising to supplement the shortfall and any successful attempts would be made available to students. The university is also making its own appeals to donors in an attempt to assist needy students. Management also raised this funding concern to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Higher Education during their visit to CPUT.

Although there was an increase in the NSFAS budget from R1.561-billion in 2010/11 to the current R4.094-billion more funds are needed drastically.

According to the Department of High Education in 2011 there were 937 455 university students, of whom 216 874 received NSFAS funding. In 2011 there were approximately 650 000 FET college students, of whom 114 968 received NSFAS funding. NSFAS assisted over 400 000 students at universities and FET colleges throughout the country in 2013. Since 2009, when NSFAS provided loans and bursaries to 191 040 students, the numbers have more than doubled. With the number of students who depend on NSFAS increasing annually, was it not foreseen that there would be financial problems?

Ayanda Malangeni, a young upcoming scientist said: NSFAS is not consistent.  They accepted me in my first year because I could not afford to pay for my tuition fees but in my second year they reject my application as if I suddenly got richer. Where do they think I suddenly got funds to cover my tuition fees? The worst part is the fact that I got told in July that I am one of the thousands of students who got excluded. All sorts of funding have already closed in July for this year. Where am I supposed to get funding for this year? This is affecting me emotionally, for example I can’t even concentrate fully in class because I know regardless of how well I person academically, I will not receive my results at the end of the semester due to my fees not being paid up.

To find out what the LSRC of the CPUT Cape Town campus had to say about the matter, the Finance Officer was interviewed.

Question: How many students from CPUT have been excluded due to finances?

Answer: Only 2300 students are affected by this NSFAS matter.Tthat number includes Bellville and Cape Town. Other campuses are funded by certain departments from the Government level like the Health Department for students in Athlone and Education Department for Mowbray students.

Question: What effect has the lack of funds by NSFAS had on CPUT?

Answer:  This has consistently shown a very negative impact and effect on potential students who had the abilities to advance their studies. 

Question: Is there no possible way the institution could help needy students?

Answer: There are various ways the institution could approach to meet students half way, such as:

·         Faculty bursaries being awarded to not only academically deserving students,  but to also academically improving students so that a culture of motivating students to always aim high and do better is created.

·         SRC bursary - as we have seen so far that the student leadership has been compromising a portion of its budget to accommodate students. This has proven to be effective and helpful as many students have been able to come back to the system of the institution.

·         Through stakeholder relations-the institution can at this point in time persuade it's stakeholders and partners to form a bursary scheme that will assist students

·         Tenderpreneur- for every service provider that gets business at Cput,  it will be essential for such to take responsibility of at least ten students(2 in each faculty) and pay for their tuition and meals for the period they will be rendering services to the institution..  talking about millions..

·         Innovative ideas-students through their leadership can also start their own campaign and co-opt organisations such as "Right to learn" to come to the fore and bring donors on board.

Question: Is the LSRC budget still relevant?

Answer: The LSRC at this stage becomes relevant at the beginning of the year, other than that, we witness these reps fighting over who should provide services and whose getting what.

The NSFAS was established by the South African Government in 1996. It was set up to ensure that students, who have the potential, but cannot afford to fund their own studies, will have access to funding for tertiary education, but over the progression of time this has turned to be a different story for many. It is funded by the government, international donors, and the private sector. With the appointment of Sizwe Nxasana as the new chairman of the NSFAS, there are high expectations that there will be a turnaround in the troubled multibillion rand scheme‚ which has been dogged by corruption and mismanagement that has resulted in many disadvantaged young people missing out on higher education opportunities.

*NSFAS has run out of funds apparently before they could even pay for everyone. So I have been part of DASO and we want to help the students. We planning to have a Rally on the 4th of September (Sizwe Mapapu)

For some students, dreams were shuttered even before they shone. And to the majority of the affected and infected, this has created an uncomfortable environment of not knowing or having the hope that tuition will be paid and someone will progress to the next level.

Some questions that remain unanswered: What is the Department of Higher Education doing to ensure that no student gets excluded for financial reasons from any university in South Africa? In the current academic year, how many students have been excluded from universities as a result of the lack of funds from NSFAS? Is it possible to cut the red tape on bursary and scholarship awards? Will there ever be a free education system in South Africa as in Germany? When will education stop being a debt in South Africa?

* The promised DASO rally against the NSFAS financial issue never took place.