Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande announced on Monday that the decision of whether to increase fees for 2017 and by how much will be left to the discretion of each institution.
His only guideline is that increases should not amount to more than 8%.
The notion of free education in other countries has been cited in many arguments to illustrate why it is a feasible idea but there seems to be the habit of forgetting that free tuition is exactly that – FREE TUITION ONLY!
You still have to pay for transport, accommodation, course books and notes and other essentials without which you cannot complete the course.
Monica Lungu, writing for www.mastersportal.eu, which seeks to help students around the world find the correct academic fit – from universities to individual courses – lists some of the costs associated with attending tuition-fee-free universities in Finland, Norway and Germany.
With a current exchange rate of R15.71 to €1 some of these free options become very costly very quickly.
In Germany international students have to pay administrative costs of between €100 and €250 per semester (there are two per year) setting you back in the region of between R1 571 and R3 928 per year.
You have to re-register every semester and cannot do so if you have failed the previous semester.
Added to this you will need approximately €100 per month for transport, €22 per month for phones and internet, €70 for health insurance and €30 for learning materials.
That means you will be shelling out €220 (R3 338) per month before you pay for food or accommodation.
To enrol, you must prove you have a monthly income of at least €500 – that’s R7 585 – per month to cover your cost of living or a mere R75 850 for 10 months of varsity per year.
Oh, and did I mention you still have to feed and house yourself?
In Finland the living costs are slightly higher at between €700 and €900 (R10 619 to R13 653) per month and you must show you have a minimum of €560 (R8 496) per month at your disposal.
The most common monthly expenses, again, are transport €50, internet and phone €135 and health-related expenses €36 totalling €221 (R3 353) before accommodation and food.
In Norway there is a mandatory student union tax of between €32 and €64 (R485 to R970).
This tax provides some reduction in transportation costs but even with this saving, you can expect to pay around €75 per month for transport, €210 for internet / phones and €530 for additional course and learning material, taking your costs without accommodation to somewhere around the €815 (R12 364) per month mark.
Looking at these costs it’s a wonder anyone can afford this free education when the on-costs are so high.
But let’s consider how it is that fee-free universities can exist.
It’s simple – extremely high taxes.
In Germany, Norway and Finland respectively personal income tax reaches 45%, 39% and 51.6% and they have a larger taxpaying population where between 90 and 95% of adults work and pay tax.
However, that’s not where all the funding for universities comes from.
Everyone pays in to support the education system.
That’s everyone!
Employed or not you pay –– the VAT paid for all products purchased is a key to funding state-owned universities – and VAT is a whopper at 19% in Germany, 25% in Norway and 24% in Sweden.
Looking at these figures I am left wondering if the answer to our problems is that simple – simply raise VAT.
It’s a solution which has been suggested before so let’s consider it seriously.
If VAT in South Africa was raised from 14% to 25% and all university tuition was abolished – that’s the fees only, students would still have to pay all other costs, including accommodation, food, transport, books and internet connectivity – would those picketing students put down their placards and stop burning buildings?
Somehow I think not!
