Majuba College students have been boycotting classes for the past few weeks to register their dissatisfaction over the monthly grants they receive via the National Student Financial Assistance Scheme.
Some students who spoke to the Courier said they were receiving R800 a month but could not ‘come out every month’ once they have paid for accommodation, travelling and food. They said they need about R2 000 a month to make ends meet. Many travel from out of town and are forced to board locally. They said landlords are keen to cash in on the students and charge them ‘exorbitant rentals’ of between R1 500 and R2 500 a month.
Other students claimed that they ‘are not receiving a cent after kindly benefactors, and not the Government, had paid for their tuition fees.’
NSFAS applies an allocation formula, which takes into account the college’s fees and the number of black, coloured, and Indian students enrolled. Students who apply for financial aid are assessed in terms of the NSFAS means test that involves SARS and Home Affairs which determines how much assistance they qualify for. Colleges/Universities then apply the rules and regulations set down by NSFAS to determine which students will be funded.
However, the more white students a tertiary institution has, the less money that College will receive. The cut off is around R120 000 per household per annum – a figure which will exclude a swathe of ‘middle class’ people from all race groups.
According to the NSFAS website, students must pay the loan back once they have qualified and earn R30 000 or more per month.
“At least 70% of working NSFAS beneficiaries are able to purchase cars and houses in their first three years of working. We need to remind them to pay back what they owe to NSFAS,” these were the words of former Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training, Mduduzi Manana.
How students are traced to get them to pay back once they are earning R30 000 a month is vague, but the website makes mention of NSFAS using debt collectors to trace students who default. Those who drop out of their course are expected to pay back once they earn ‘R30 000 a month’…
Education officials have also complained that some students ‘sell their NSFAS grant to other students’ and asked them to ‘stop doing this as it defeats the purpose’.
It is not clear if the students’ will have their wishes granted as NSFAS has not responded to media queries.
