Your guide to school fees exemption and school fees debt collection

South Africa’s harsh economic climate has increasingly impacted parents’ ability to keep up with their children’s monthly school fees.

Their already strained budget is further drained by various other costly expenses, such as uniforms, books, stationery and sports equipment.

The non-payment of school fees has multiple alarming implications for parents, one being a negative credit score.

“Private school parents who are in default, are sent a letter of demand and then given 20 business days to settle the outstanding balance,” explained  TPN Credit  Bureau’s legal counsel, Ashleigh Laurent.

“If the parents still fail to make payment the school is within its rights to proceed with debt collection.”

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Fee exemption at SA’s public schools

Parents at government schools have a little more protection when they fail to make payments.

“Government schools can only take action against non-paying parents once they have determined if the parents qualify for a full exemption, partial or conditional exemption from payment and are required to notify parents in writing if they have not applied for an exemption,” Laurent said.

Can’t afford to pay school fees?

Despite it being their duty to inform parents of their rights to apply for exemptions, unfortunately, not all public schools follow this regulation.

Government regulations provide a mechanism for parents facing financial constraints to apply for a total, partial or conditional exemption from the payment of school fees. 

According to these regulations, the following pupils should be exempted from any school fees:

• An orphan in an orphanage;
• A child in foster care;
• A child who has been placed in the care of a family member (“kinship caregiver”);
• A child who heads a household or is part of a child-headed household; and
• A child whose parents receive a social grant on their behalf, for example, a child support grant.

No exemption from school fees

• If the school fees are 2% or less of a parent’s total income, the parent does not qualify for any exemption unless they have five or more children at a “fee-charging” school.
• However, if the financial position of a parent changes, for example, if a parent is retrenched and unable to continue paying the compulsory school fees, then the parent must apply to the SGB to ask for the school fees to be waived until they are employed again.

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Full or partial exemption formula

According to Legal Fundi, when applying for an exemption from school fees, a certain formula is used to work out what proportion (or percentage) of the family income would be spent on school fees.

• If the school fees are 10% of the parent or caregiver’s total income, they will be entitled to a full exemption and will not have to pay school fees.
• According to the exemption formula, if the school fees are between 3.5% and 10% of the total income, a parent will qualify for a partial exemption. The school cannot ask the parents to sign an Acknowledgement of Debt in lieu of the possibility of defaulting on payment at a future date.

To find out how much you will have to pay if granted a partial exemption, take a look at the Table for Calculation Exemptions published on the Legal Fundi website. 

According to this table, which is included in the regulations, parents with one child at a school who spend 9% of their joint income on school fees, qualify for a 94% fee exemption.

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How to apply for an exemption

To address the financial challenges faced by some parents, Section 39 of the South African Schools Act has put measures in place to apply for full or partial exemption from school fees.

According to the exemption formula, if the school fees are between 3.5% and 10% of the total income, a parent will qualify for a partial exemption.

The school cannot ask the parents to sign an Acknowledgement of Debt in lieu of the possibility of defaulting on payment at a future date.

Where to start 

Parents are required to approach the School Governing Body (SGB) if they wish to apply for an exemption from paying school fees.

Application forms can be obtained from the SGB through the school principal. If there is no application form, write a letter to the chairperson of the SGB requesting to be exempted in part or totally from fees.

SGB consideration

The SGB has 30 days to consider and decide on an application. The decision must follow what the law says in the regulations.

In considering an application for exemption, the SGB must take the following into account.

• The financial position of the applicant, including:
• The total gross annual income of the parents
• The total of their necessary annual expenses
• A statement of their assets and liabilities.
• The number of dependants of the applicant
• The applicant’s standard of living
• Any other relevant information the applicant supplies.

The SGB is then obliged to inform the parent or caregiver of the outcome of the application in writing within seven days of assessing the exemption request.

Right to appeal 

Public schools are responsible for assisting parents in lodging appeals.

Parents have 30 days to appeal against the decision in writing to the head of the Department of Basic Education in the province.

A parent should be informed of the head of the department’s decision within seven weeks from the date the appeal was first made. 

Contact details for provincial departments

Legal Fundi has put together a list of all the contact details of the provincial basic education departments.

Can you be blacklisted for school fees debt?

It is important to note that a school can blacklist you with a credit bureau if you have not applied for exemption and have not paid outstanding fees.

However, according to the Legal Resources Council (LRC), your child cannot be excluded from attending school, getting a report card, transfer card, and other school activities due to parents being in arrears for fees.

School fees debt collection process

1. At fee-paying public schools, when parents/guardians fail to pay school fees for one or two months, the SGB must investigate reasons for their inability to pay. After investigating, they
   must determine whether the parents/guardians qualify for a fee exemption.
2. If the parents/guardians are found not to be eligible for exemption even after the
   SGB’s investigation, the SGB may take legal action against the parents/guardians.
   However, if the parents/guardians have informed the school that they are in the
   process of organising the fees, no legal action may be instituted.
3. If after three months, the fees are not paid, the SGB may issue a letter of demand by
   registered post warning the parents/guardians and indicating the date that the
   parents/guardians must respond to the letter.
4. If the parents/guardians do not respond to the letter, the SGB may issue a summons
   against the parents/guardians. The summons will be served on the parents/guardians
   by a sheriff of the Court.
5. The summons will give you five days to issue a notice to defend if you wish to defend
   the proceedings.
6. If you don’t respond to the summons by making arrangements to pay or defend
   the summons, the school may obtain a default judgment against you.
   Your child cannot be excluded from attending school, getting a report card,
   transfer card, and other school activities due to parents being in arrears for fees.

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