Violent student protests have affected academic activities at different universities. Due to the disruption of these activities, the NSFAS and Higher Education Department have been engaging with various stakeholder groups to resolve the issue.
Due to the changes made to the National Student Aid Scheme’s funding model, violent student protests have occurred in some universities.
The implementation of a R45 000 annual cap on student housing by NSFAS has been the main issue that sparked student protests. According to students, this measure only made the situation worse.
Some of the students who are protesting against the price cap claim that their accommodation providers have forced them to pay the entire amount. This has left them without any accommodation.
This week, the management of NSFAS met with the SAUS to try and resolve the tensions between the protesting students and the other stakeholders.
After the meeting, the two organizations agreed to work together to gather information about the students who are currently without accommodation.
The scheme noted that it is working with universities to gather information about the accommodation options available to members. It is also looking into the availability of other providers that fall under the R45 000 cap.
The scheme has defended its decision to cap the amount of money that members can spend on accommodations, saying that it used a study conducted by the World Bank to come up with a figure. It noted that this would help prevent fraudulent activities by the providers.
NSFAS is also looking into which universities have been affected by the price cap. These include the University of Pretoria, the University Of Cape Town, and the University Of KwaZulu Natal.
